Teachers make all the difference
by artislife18
Summary: Steve has a new student in class. Everything changes once he meets the boy genius everyone is so fond of. contains Tony whump and a protective Steve Steve's POV
1. Chapter 1

Teachers make all the difference

It was a peaceful summer break as far as Steve was concerned. Nothing too extravagant , and enough little things happening for it to not have been too was the perfect relaxing break he had needed before he had to manage a handful of raging teenagers again.

Steve has been teaching history since almost three years now. Waking up after 13 years, shield had made sure to be kind enough to let Steve be what he wanted to be. He missed Peggy, he missed Bucky but this was his second chance at making a difference and he was not going to waste it. So Steve chose this time around to make a difference by teaching, educating the young minds who would be the future. As captain America Steve has had a lot of experience with children and has also learnt patience. He thoroughly enjoyed his day job . Shield had made sure to keep his identity a secret, everyone knew captain America but no one knew Steve Rogers and that worked out great. He had to occasionally go help out in the superhero fashion when things came down to it ,but it kept him sane knowing he could do both at the same time.

His motorcycle was his best friend, of course apart from clint and Natasha , courtesy of shield. School was only a good 5 miles away from his apartment. It was just a cozy little place, nothing extravagant and Steve absolutely loved it. He was mentally prepared to dive back into academics , even though he has enjoyed the break, Steve needed to work or he was never at peace with his mind.

Pulling up at the parking lot, Steve parked his motorcycle and walked through the front office to pick up his class schedules and student list for the new year. Going through it, there was one name that did not seem familiar, Anthony Edwards Stark. Must be a new student then , Steve smiled to himself and walked on to his first class which would begin in ten minutes. Which meant he had ten minutes to get his desk in order.

Just as the bell rang , the students started to pile in, most of them greeting Steve and smiling . He waited till everyone had taken their seats and scanned the class to re familiarise with all the faces. Spotting the new kid immediately, a sharply dressed brunette , with brown eyes and eyelashes of an angel sitting in the far right corner with . He let his eyes sweep across the class just one last time and smiled

"welcome back guys! Hope you all had a good summer." He received a few happy responses and some not so happy about being back in school. "Right, so before we begin the lecture for today ,I was hoping we can learn a few things about our new student here" Steve said pointing to Anthony who looked slightly uncomfortable, but quickly composed himself smiling at everyone and stood up.

" Hey. I am Tony. I am originally from here but was in boarding school up until last year. I am looking forward to enjoying the remainder of my schooling here" he said flashing his teeth and sat back down after a few cheers of "welcome Tony!" "oh man you have so come to wrong place then!" Steve just shook his head amused and turned the page in his book.

Halfway through his lecture, Steve noticed Tony looking unimpressed and tried to make his voice more upbeat because he knew history was not the best subject but he intended to make it as fun as possible , especially to the new one's so they can develop interest faster. But it did nothing to change the expression on Tony's face. The bell rang soon enough and with a small home work assignment the students were off to attend their next class. Steve looked up just in time to notice that Tony was the first one out of the class. He smirked to himself shaking his head .

All in all Steve's first day was a good one. But something was off and he couldn't quiet place a finger on it. Over the next few days, Steve was already back to his routine. Grading papers, home works and what not. Until he came across one particularly well written paper especially for a bunch of sixteen year olds who wanted nothing to do with history. It was well worded and had all the right arguments. Turning the page back front to look at the students name, he was shocked to see it was Anthony's paper. That came as quiet a shock especially after how disinterested Tony had seemed in his past few classes. Piling up his papers into a neat stack, Steve left for the coffee break to meet Dr. Banner the school's best physics teacher.

"Steve! Looks like we are back in this hell hole huh?" Bruce said sitting down at one of the cafeteria tables putting down his tea and I joined him with a coffee. "How was your summer?" he asked smiling as he adjusted his glasses. "I have to say that it was rather pleasant, how was yours?"

"been busy, applied for a grant for my research on radiation. It's been a difficult time, but pushing through it." Steve was always impressed with how hard working Bruce was, not only was he truly intelligent he also knew how to stay humble and work hard.

"How have your classes been going Bruce?" he smiled "same old, same old. Although there is this new kid , Anthony . Quiet the genius if I may say so."

"Really?" Steve asked feeling a sense a pride bubbling inside him even though he had no idea why this was affecting him. He had known Tony only for a few days now, but he was not sure what or why this boy was special.

"Yup, from what I have heard he's been doing exceptionally well in other subjects as well. Seems like we may finally have one student we can make a difference with. But there is something off of about the child, he doesn't listen in class but yet is so bright I don't know how to help him." That caught Steve's attention, feeling somewhat better about the fact that Tony had not just been disinterested in his class but in all others as well. Steve had been going out of his way off late to get that boy's attention in class but to no avail.

"I graded one of his papers just now, and I have to say that boy can go places." Bruce hmm'd and took a sip of his tea. A shrill bell signifying the end in break time and they were off to their respective classes with a wave goodbye. Just as Steve rounded the corner to his classroom he suddenly found himself with an armful of a certain brunette as he crashed into him sending his books flying around them. Steve caught him to stabilize him before he could hit the ground but Tony flinched ,even if it was just a slight flinch , it was definitely there and Steve immediately let go of him frowning.

"Shit." He said matter of factly as he quickly tried to grab his books from the floor.

"Language" Steve chastised as he picked up the last book that had fallen by his feet and handed it over. It read advanced mechanical engineering and Steve could do nothing but wonder why a kid was reading a college level book.

Tony pursed his lips and it was just adorable in a forgive me kind of way "sorry, thanks" he mumbled and was off to wherever he was headed to in a hurry.

The next few days Steve could do nothing but think about two thoughts that just kept spiraling back to him no matter how hard he tried to distract himself. And of course both were about Tony. One, why did Steve think a sixteen year old was adorable? and two, why had Tony flinched ? Of the two the one that disturbed him the most was his off late need to protect Tony from whatever had frightened him hard enough to flinch that day. And this lead to the first thought again ,why were these feelings surfacing for the brunette? And then the thought cycle began all over again. So Steve spent the next week trying to subtly observe Tony in class or his interactions with his friends to notice if anything was off that warranted that flinch.

Three weeks later, Steve had finally given up , as he realized Tony was just a regular kid, a popular one at that and quiet a bit of genius. So it surprised him when Steve found said genius sitting outside the gym on a bench with none of his friends with whom he was always in non-stop chatter with. As he walked closer Steve noticed the slight hunch in his posture and his left arm loosely wrapped around his abdomen . Tony's head snapped up as he heard Steve's shoes scuff on the floor and he immediately straightened out letting his arm fall onto the bench and grinned at Steve.

"Avoiding gym class, Mr. Stark?" Steve asked as he approached the boy

"More like gym class is avoiding me" he said sheepish but still flashing a smile.

"And why would that be the case?" Steve asked rearranging the papers in his arms but trying to subtly make sure Tony was not injured in gym . But Tony just shrugged and said "I may be a little bit accident prone " and pursed his lips like the other day and threw up his hands as if to say 'what can you do about it?'

Steve was a little alarmed at hearing that, cause that may have just confirmed an injury that Steve was suspecting based on how he was sitting before Tony noticed him.

"so the best way to avoid gym is by sitting out in the hallway?" Steve said and Tony defensively picked out a hall pass for the nurse from his pocket and showing it to him said

" there's a reason it's called a hall pass Mr. Rogers." Steve had heard from the other professors just how much of a smart mouth Tony can be but this was the first actual non class based conversation Steve had had with the boy and was finally starting to understand what they meant by that.

"That is a hall pass to the nurse, not a pass for lingering in the hallway is it? Is there a reason you are not at the nurses office ?" Steve asked and tony glared at him slightly

"There's nothing the nurse can do for it" he said

"and what exactly is this thing that the nurse can't help you out with?" Steve was suddenly curious and not just about the injury but about why Tony didn't want to go to the school nurse.

"one of the boys may or may not have landed on top of me" Steve cringed, at the thought of someone falling on the already small framed brunette. It was getting frustratingly hard to get any straight answers from Tony, so Steve decided to play the professor card, "yeah, let's go . Up you get" he said motioning for Tony to get up. But tony just stared at him blankly "why?" he asked as if Steve had said the most bizarre thing . " we are going to the nurse" Steve said but just as he reached forward to pull the boy up, Tony shied away from his touch and got up on his own.

He shuffled back a few steps from Steve "I can go by myself" he said irritated and walked away before Steve could say anything. And Steve didn't see Tony in class for the next three days.

"I am telling you Nat this kid is just different. He is a genius, and even though he's been in this school less than a month he's already one of the most popular kid in this school."

"Steve, what's going on? Why is this kid from school all of a sudden so important to you?" Natasha said, and that was just it Steve didn't know why.

"I…don't .."

"he's sixteen Steve" natasha said gently but it still hit him hard. Even though Steve knew it was wrong he couldn't stop himself from feeling these things.

A doombot came swinging at Natasha as she ducked and Steve flung his shield hard into it severing it's neck from the body. One of its arms caught Steve along his cheek drawing blood.

"All I am saying is, be careful. It can be dangerous." She said severing a bot on her own.

"More dangerous than these aliens?"

"Oh, most definitely"

Steve sighed , shaking his head trying to forget about Tony and concentrate on the doombots.

Steve thought after their conversation in the hallway and with Tony not showing up in his classes, there was something definitely wrong but the next day Tony showed up to class happy as ever even answering some of the questions Steve threw at the class. Except today Tony was the last one to leave after the bell rang and just as he walked by Steve's desk he blew a low whistle at Steve and said "looks like you are the one that needs the hall pass to the nurse huh Mr. Rogers?" he said pulling out the slip from last week and handing it over to Steve. For a second Steve was confused as to what Tony was referring to and then Tony pointed to the cut along his cheek and Steve made an "ah" sound clearly surprised that Tony had been the one to start a conversation this time. Tony grinned at him ,winked and shuffled out the door.

He shook his head in amusement as he went back to stacking the papers he had collected from his students when he suddenly realized something. If Tony still had the hall pass, then it meant Tony hadn't actually gone to the nurse the other day. He had lied to Steve.

"are you sure you want to take up the responsibility of caring for twenty teenagers ?"the principal said raising his eyebrows skeptical as ever.

"It's a museum,they are teenagers. They are going to be bored ,there's not much trouble they can get into" Steve tried .

"That's just the problem, they get into trouble when they are bored." Well can't really argue there Steve thought.

"I have a couple of friends willing to help me out , I think it will be good for the kids. History is as it is a dry subject. They need a change sir." The principal sighed "okay, but I am going to need consent forms from the parents" and Steve grinned and shook his hand "thank you sir"

Steve sat down at one of the seats at the front of the bus, once all the kids had boarded and he was startled out of his thoughts five minutes later when someone sat next to him.

"You know Mr. Rogers, it would be nice if you could share with the class how you gained super healing abilities" and then Tony was looking up at him expectantly and Steve panicked. There had been many days when Steve had come to class with bruises and cuts post battle but no one had ever noticed that they were gone just as fast as they appeared.

"Excuse me?" Steve said trying to play dumb , and Tony gave an exasperated look before reaching up gently running his finger across Steve cheek where the cut had been just three days ago.

"How did this heal so fast?" he asked again, but the look in his eyes was so pure and the curiosity on his face so genuine all Steve wanted to do was just tell him the truth.

"unlike some of us, I actually went to the doctor" Steve said trying to divert the conversation and focusing on Tony.

"Yeah but a doctor can't magically heal a cut either." He retaliated and Steve just wanted to hide from this boy rather than try to answer his questions.

So he casually shrugged and said " I have a great metabolism I guess" he said

"Huh." It was clear Tony was not satisfied with the answer but Steve was just glad that this conversation was over at least for now. Tony just sat there lost in his thoughts for the rest of the trip and Steve thought it was better to just keep quiet rather than giving the kid more incentive to ask questions. They arrived at the museum twenty minutes later and Steve got down to find Natasha and Clint waiting for them at the parking lot .

"looks like the fossil has finally arrived home" Natasha smirked and I gave her look that said shut up not here. She just stuck her tongue out at me and walked over giving me peck on the cheek.

Once everyone had gotten off the bus, Steve introduced Natasha and Clint to the kids "ok guys listen up, this here are my good friends Clint and Natasha, they are here to make sure you guys don't go crazy" and the crowd groaned as they realized that there was going to be supervision.

"Don't worry guys we are actually here to make sure Steve here doesn't drive you guys crazy" Natasha said and high fived Clint and the crowd cheered.

"Okay , let's go guys"

Clint got along with the kids so easily , if he didn't look older people would have thought he was just part of the group. Natasha and Steve were leaning on a wall watching the kids swarm around the exhibits

"So is that the special one?" she asked as she pointed to Tony with her chin.

"How did you know?" Steve asked not really surprised , Natasha knew everything .

"he's been throwing glances at you every now and then. He's cute , your boy toy."

"Don't call him that." Steve snapped and Natasha was studying his face intently and Steve just stared ahead avoiding her gaze.

"He is quiet the smart alec, I'll give you that" Clint said walking over to Steve to lean against the pillar.

"Mr. Rogers!" Ms. Potts was waving at him while holding onto Tony like she was about to drag him somewhere "can we go to the astrophysics section?" she said pointing between herself and Tony and Steve was about to say no and tell them to stay with the group but pepper beat him to it " it's just one floor above us, we will stay right there until you guys come up as well. Please, we have already seen this stuff." and Tony was looking at him ready to pout , so Steve said "okay but if you guys create any trouble…." They were out of sight before Steve could finish that sentence.

"You do know what is going to happen once they hit the floor on top right?" Clint said and Steve raised an eyebrow "they are horny teenagers Steve, do I really have to spell everything out to you?" he said patting him on the arm and walking over to a group of kids who were pointing at something.

"Steve-" Natasha started but he cut her off "Clint is right. It's none of my business anyway."

Steve was now unknowingly sulking, he knows he has no say over it. Tony was exactly what Clint had said, a teenager. And teenagers need to explore . And it really was none of Steve's business what Tony was took almost another twenty minutes before the rest of them were done with this floor and Steve almost sighed with relief. That relief was very short lived however when pepper came walking out of the elevator looking pale and nervous. She walked straight up to Steve ignoring her friends on the way and leaned up on her tip toes and said in a rushed whisper "Mr. Rogers something is w-wrong with Tony. He says he can't breathe and I tried to help him but I don't know what to do anymore can you please come with me?" already tugging on Steve arm and pulling him towards the elevator.

Steve froze for a second his heart skipping a beat and Natasha gave him a slight nudge to snap out of it.

" What do you mean he can't breathe? What happened?" he asked as he followed pepper towards wherever Tony was. Pepper hesitated for a moment and fidgeted nervously before she said "we were kissing in the men's room and the next thing I know Tony says he can't breathe and I told him I will call for help but he said it would be okay , and that I shouldn't. So I tried to help him but I didn't know how and then I came to get you." Steve's rational part of his brain knew he shouldn't have a fixated on the word kissing, but it registered in his mind like a permanent stamp. He followed pepper into the men's room and what he saw tore his heart apart.

Tony was on his knees , gasping for air his fingers clutching at the collar of his shirt . A layer of sweat covered his forehead and his hair was sticking to it. Steve took large quick strides over to Tony reaching out to touch him but Tony jerked back at the touch and his gasping intensified as he shook his head no.

"Okay, okay" Steve said raising his hands up in the air " Tony hey, look at me." he spoke as calmly as possible. Steve had a pretty clear idea of what he might be dealing with here. But just to make sure he waited till Tony looked at him "do you need a hospital?" and Tony shook his head no again and Steve asked again " do you have any allergies?" another headshake. And that confirmed Steve's diagnosis. He turned to pepper and said "Ms. Potts why don't you head out and let Natasha know that Tony is going to be okay? And ask her to bring us a water bottle in a little while, yeah?" he said and pepper immediately said "I..I don't want to leave him. Is he really going to be okay?" she said trying to reach out to Tony but Steve stopped her hands gently "he will be okay. I promise. But the rest of them are going to be worried so please go tell them that we are fine." She hesitated for a few seconds and left quietly.

"Tony. I need you to take deep breaths okay? In and out. Come on you can do this." Tony simply shook his head no the panic taking over.

"Yes you can. You are having a panic attack. It's going to be okay. There is plenty of air in this room all you need to do is breathe okay?" he said squatting down completely to Tony's eye level so he could look at Steve. "Look at me Tony, come on, there you go" he coaxed his hands itching to wrap around the boy. "I am going to touch your hand , is that okay?" he asked but made no movement to do so until Tony shakily nodded his head. He reached over and gently grasped one of Tony's wrist and tugged it free from its hold on his collar and placed it on Steve's own chest "follow my breathing, do you feel that? In and out okay? let's do it together come on sweetheart." He said as he took exaggerated breaths and Tony slowly picked up on it trying to match his breaths to Steve's. "There you go , just like that. You can do this" he coaxed and after a couple more minute Tony's breathing was finally somewhat relaxed and he plopped down onto the floor heavily listing towards the wall his one hand still held against Steve's chest.

"Better?" Steve asked his own heartbeat finally slowing enough to focus on other things like the awkward way Tony was listing. Tony only just nodded , still not saying anything. He still looked slightly frightened .

"I am going to help you sit up against the wall okay?" Steve said and Tony nodded again . He released his hold on Tony's hand and wrapped an arm around his midsection to pull him upright so he could completely lean against the wall but Tony gasped as Steve's hand made contact with his midsection his hands trying to push him away but Steve quickly maneuvered him into a sitting position before letting go.

He didn't comment on it just yet, knowing it had something to do with the gym injury and sat himself down beside Tony a small gap between them. Five minutes later and someone knocked on the door, and Steve didn't miss the way Tony tensed up before he informed "it's just Natasha." She walked inside and gave a small smile to Tony, handing a small water bottle to him. He took it with shaky hands and drank most of it in one gulp. Steve shared a look with Natasha and she nodded and left.

"So, astrophysics exhibit is code these days for making out huh?" Steve said as he tried to ease the tension a little.

"It depends , on what your definition of making out entails." He said

"What happened tony?" Steve asked

"I don't know."

"Is this the first time?" Steve pushed and was met with silence and that answered it.

"Do you know what triggers it?" again silence so Steve decided to try another angle

"How is your injury?" Steve asked knowing that Tony can't deny it anymore.

"My metabolism is apparently not as high as yours"

"Is there someone you can talk to -"

"No!"

"if you need to talk , I am ready to listen-"

"I am fine"

Steve sighed, this was going nowhere and Tony was becoming more and more defensive by the second.

"I am going to call someone to come pick l-" Tony sprung so fast up off the wall that not even Steve's serum enhanced reflexes could have expected it.

"I am fine! Seriously. It won't happen again! You don't have to call anyone" and Steve just stared wide eyed at Tony's reaction and Tony finally added a "please" and turned his eyes down not wanting to look Steve in the eyes.

"okay." Tony's eyes snapped up in surprise as if he hadn't expected Steve to give in so easily.

"On one condition" Tony groaned about to argue but Steve held up a finger " let me have a look at that injury of yours" he said pointing to Tony's midsection. And Tony took a step back "it's fine, I told you there's nothing you can do for it . Let's just go back to the exhibits."

"Anthony-"

"Its tony" he interrupted "okay, Tony. Just let me have one look make sure you are okay and we can pretend this never happened"

"No. And since when do you have a medical degree?"

"Either you let me have a look to make sure you are okay, or I am calling your parents to have a chat about your incident today."

"that's harassment. Besides good luck talking to my parents since they are dead!" Steve's head snapped up from guilt for not having done any back ground check on Tony. He knew most of his students and their immediate family well enough but Tony was the new kid and Steve hadn't had a chance to meet with his family on any school occasions yet.

"Tony I am so-"

"Save it" he said before walking around Steve and out of the men's room.

After that one dreadful incident in the men's room Tony had refused to pay any attention to Steve no matter how subtly Steve was trying. He had felt awful about the last part of their conversation but was just as worried for Tony, panic attacks especially multiple ones did not just happen at random .There was always a deep seated reason for it and to think that Tony had suffered one had Steve's heart rolling in turmoil. The only information he got on how Tony was doing was from pepper, his girlfriend or whatever it is that they are, when she came to thank him after class the next day for helping Tony out and had said that he was feeling and doing much better. Steve was happy , he really was but he couldn't help but think something bigger was going on here.

The next day took a turn when Tony stayed back sitting in his chair as the class cleared out after the bell. He didn't say anything, so Steve just went back to grading his papers . After five minutes of silence Tony cleared his throat and Steve asked "something I can help you with Mr. Stark?" Tony just looked at him ,he seemed like he wanted to say something but didn't know if he should. So Steve did instead

"I am sorry about your parents , I didn't know."

"You called me sweetheart" he said suddenly

"What?" Steve was now genuinely taken aback . " the day before, when I was having ….when we were in the men's room you called me sweetheart. Professors don't call their students sweethearts." And Steve had to swallow and just look at him having absolutely no idea what to say to that.

"Pepper says I have to apologize for the way I behaved , I am sorry." Again , Steve was taken aback. This kid had a way with Steve's emotions and he had no idea.

"just doing my job" Steve said and the expression on Tony's face immediately fell but Steve didn't understand why.

"Tony…" he looked up expectantly "just know , you can always come to me if you need help, with anything." Steve was surprised Tony even let him finish let alone that he actually seemed to be seriously considering it.

"I'll be seventeen in three months" he said and Steve had to raise his eyebrows in question "I liked it when you called me sweetheart" he mumbled

"you were kissing pepper just the day before." And Steve knew, he knew it was the wrong thing to say , he knew he should have instead said 'no Tony, this is not like that, besides I am eight years older and you are sixteen, a child'

"I…didn't …I.." he stuttered and Steve cut him off "pepper is good for you" and Tony's look of betrayal will probably give Steve nightmares that night but he knew he had to do it.

"Tony…" Steve sighed wanting to explain why it was wrong , why it wouldn't work

"It's ok" he said in a small tone for the first time showing vulnerability.

"Don't you have a class?" Steve asked because he just couldn't look at the saddened look on Tony's face anymore. He knew he was being rude but Tony is just a teenager. These feelings will just pass on just as fast as they had come for him.

"I am not in the mood for gym" ah.

"That's not how school works" but Tony held up a neatly folded piece of paper "I have a nurses note excusing me from gym"

"I see you finally went to the nurse huh" Steve said as he signed an assignment and graded it.

Steve wasn't sure how to handle Tony, all these days he had only seen one side of Tony a very defensive sixteen year old, who was very smart for his age and seemingly acing the social skills among his peers. But there was a certain vulnerability to him today that Steve was just mostly taken aback, surprised or rather just didn't know how to respond to a vulnerable Tony without it bringing out the feelings he had for the boy which was not okay.

"Pepper wrote it for me ,she has excellent penmanship" Steve's hand froze on the sheet and he carefully thought out what he wanted to say next

"I am still obligated to report any incidents to a students guardian." He said gently knowing how strongly opposed Tony had been to that idea the last time.

"I don't want you to" he said looking down .

"Give me one good reason not to" Steve said still not looking up from his papers

"Because there is nothing -"

"Anyone can do about it. I have heard that before. Try something different." Steve deadpanned

"because It didn't happen in the gym" Steve dropped the pen he was holding and his eyes snapped up to glare at Tony at this new information but Tony still wouldn't meet his eyes.

Steve got up from his desk and walked over to Tony leaning against the bench behind him "Tony"

He still refused to look up , "look at me when I am talking to you Mr. Stark" and Tony's eyes snapped up at the authoritative voice

"I am going to give you three options , one- you can let me call your guardian. Two – I tell the school counselor and you can talk to her or three – you let me asses this injury of yours , and we can see about if you want to talk about whatever it is that is going on either with me or with anyone that you are comfortable with."

Tony hesitated for a few moments his eyes darting up to meet Steve's.

"Its really not that bad. I'll show you. Just don't call anyone." And Steve sighed in relief and went around the desks to shut the door just incase Tony didn't feel comfortable. He walked back as Tony quickly unbuttoned his shirt and let it hang from his shoulders.

Steve had to close his eyes for several moments to control his breathing, his nostrils flared in anger thinking about how Tony had been walking around like this was nothing for the past few days. His entire left side was mottled blue and green . The edges turning yellow as it slowly healed.

"How did this happen?" he growled and Tony retreated a step back and Steve had to remind himself to calm down.

"Someone really did slam into me, just not at gym class."

"You need a x ray" he said as he gently traced his hand along the mottled skin feeling for broken ribs and Tony whimpered in pain. "Nothing is broken" he said slapping Steve's prodding fingers away and he began buttoning up his shirt.

"And since when do you have a medical degree?" Tony gave him a spectacular glare for that.

"Tony, you need to wrap your ribs okay?" you don't have to go to the hospital, just go to the school nurse and she will wrap it for you." He still didn't look convinced so Steve added "you will even get an actual note excusing you from gym" and Tony cracked a smile at that.

"Can you do it?" he asked and Steve sighed considering just lying to Tony that he had no medical experience whatsoever even though shield had given him extensive lessons to manage almost all situations. Instead he asked "why do you not want to go to the school nurse?"

"because she's kinda scary." And Steve laughed relief flooding him as he realized the stupid reason why Tony had been refusing to see her. It was also the first time Tony showed his childlike side and Steve decided to just do it himself. He asked Tony to stay put as he slipped out into the hallway and walked to the nurses station to ask for the wrap. Truth be told Steve did understand what Tony meant by the nurse being kinda scary once he saw and felt pity for the kids who had to see her. It was rather funny , she was a large women about 5 ft 9 inches and wore a glare on her face like a permanent tattoo.

"Thank you, Mrs. Rishah" Steve said as she handed the wrap over to him. Steve was walking back to his class his mind an absolute mess of everything Tony had just shared with him that he didn't notice Bruce until he smacked straight into him sending the papers he was carrying askew.

"I am so sorry! I really am , here let me help you" Steve said putting the wrap aside and helped Bruce pick up his papers.

"Are you alright?you seem rather distracted?" Steve considered telling Bruce about Tony and his injury but he remembered how Tony was so against telling anyone so he simply said "yes, yes sorry I was just lost in my thoughts." Bruce smiled at him, "careful ya? Don't want a beef like you slamming into sixteen year olds. They would probably be hurting a lot more than I am" Steve smirked and picked up the wrap again just waved to Bruce, "I'll see you at lunch" he said grinning

"Here , remove the shirt and hop up on my desk " Steve said unwrapping the bandage, Tony without a moment of hesitation did as told. He lifted his arms up so Steve could wrap around his torso, wincing as Steve tightened it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve asked as he worked.

"no"

"Okay, that's okay. But if you ever need to , I am here" he said as he secured the wrap with the pins.

As Steve threw the carton box away, Tony sat swinging his legs on his desk. He watched as Steve cleaned up and then finally looked at him "do you really think pepper is good for me?" he asked with a hint of sadness. Steve couldn't resist , he reached up to swipe a thumb across his cheek but instead he straightened out the collar on Tony's shirt and said "what I think is a fifteen year old should be kissing other fifteen year olds. I thought you were a genius" he smiled at Tony dropped his hand and took a step back. Tony frowned "I am going to be seventeen !"

"same holds good for seventeen year olds"

Steve had to distract him from this conversation before it could hurt him more so he quickly asked "what class do you have next?" Tony checked his watch and hopped off the desk gathering his books and his bag

"Physics" he said and walked to the door, just before he left he turned back and said "Mr. Rogers ? thanks." And Steve smiled at him and nodded.

Bruce was waiting for Steve with a tray of food at the cafeteria. It had been a troubling two hours as Steve fought with his thoughts about Tony so this was a welcome distraction. He walked over sitting down and placing his own tray on the table. "hey , you look troubled. Teenager problems?" Steve asked as Bruce gave him a weary smile.

"you can say that" he said and Steve waited for him to explain as he took a bite out his sandwich. "you know Tony stark?" And Steve's mind did a flip annoyed that this kid was everywhere.

"Yeah, of course"

"Have I told you how much of a genius that kid is?" and Steve nodded letting Bruce continue as he chewed on his food. "Anthony Edward stark. Ring any bells?'

It did ring bells, a very specific one . One that Steve did not want rung.

"Howard stark?" and Bruce nodded seriously as he watched Steve take in the information. A confirmation Steve never thought would ever be true. Because Howard's little boy died in the car crash with his parents 15 years ago. Steve was there for the funeral. A year after which Steve had crashed his plane into the pacific.

"How are you sure?" He asked careful not to give away too much emotion on his face.

"A Few months ago, a bunch of guys showed up . Called themselves shield." Steve almost spit his sandwich out. "they told us , the board members , that Howard's son tony was alive and was kept under witness protection for his own good. They told us it was a need to know basis and only between us board members." Steve rubbed his hand over his face taking deep breaths

"Then why are you telling me now Bruce?" he asked afraid to hear the answer.

"I found Tony and his two close friends pepper and Rhodey at the back of the compound while I was looking for some samples to show the kids under the microscope, during the third period." Steve's head immediately supplied – physics, Tony had told him before leaving his classroom after missing gym.

"Tony was having a panic attack and it took us almost a half hour to calm him down." Steve was having enough trouble keeping up with everything and adding this just made Steve's head spin.

"Pepper mentioned that this happened at the museum and how you were able to calm him down a lot faster." Steve just nodded not able to say anything.

"We decided to put you on the need to know list, when pepper and rhodey told us that he was warming up to you. He is a tough shell to crack. His defense walls are up high . We wanted someone to be there for him if he needs it." Steve was still speechless worried for the boys health.

"Is he okay? Where is he now?"

"math class" he shrugged and Steve nodded.

"do you know what triggered it?"Bruce shook his head in negative "his friends said when he didn't show up to physics they went looking for him and found him like that."Steve wanted to know about the injury, ask more questions but first he needed to talk to Fury.

Fury owed him all the answers, not Bruce.

"How the hell did you think you could keep this from me?" Steve said interrupting a meeting and throwing a photo of Tony on to the table in front of fury.

Fury just sighed , and Natasha pursed her lips. Clint for the first time had no expressions on his face and this irked Steve even more.

"Did you guys know?" He asked Natasha and Clint

"Steve , you have to understand…" Natasha started .

"Bullshit! tell me Natasha" he said staring her down "is this why you said it was dangerous?" And her lack of reaction was a clear enough answer.

"Sit down Steve, you obviously want answers." Steve angrily sat down on the chair opposite to fury glaring at him "Howard was my best friend, I went to the funeral , you were there too. Tell me how this is possible."he demanded

"Obadiah Stane , Howard's business partner , found Tony on the site of the crash. Took him away, for fear of someone coming back to finish the job. What Obadiah didn't know is we kept tabs on him as well and watched him raise Tony as his own. Tony was in boarding school because Obadiah thought it would be better to keep him away from his father's company as he believes someone who is after the company is who was responsible for Howard and Maria's death."

"Why was I not made aware of this?" Steve growled his patience wearing thin.

"three years ago when you were pulled from the ice, we reached out to Obadiah and asked him to bring Tony over because we knew you could protect him . But Obadiah refused , he didn't want to trust any of us with Tony. It took us tremendous effort to convince Obadiah to let tony come to school here. But his one condition was to not tell Tony who you were , because he wanted to protect the boy from every danger that comes from being associated with us."

Steve took deep breaths as he forced himself to accept the explanation.

"Tony was injured a week back and he refused to tell me what happened and only admitted that it had to do with something outside of school, I need to know. Was he attacked? Is he being targeted by someone?"

Steve asked the gears turning in his head as he tried to put pieces together.

" We are not aware of any such situations , but we can have team look around." Steve nodded

"Steve … you have to understand that one clause we made with Obadiah is that he doesn't know any of this and that includes anything about the real you." Natasha said gauging his reaction .

"How can I lie to him?"

"You did it all these days, it wont be any different." Steve shook his head "everything is different, that boy was everything to Howard."

"do it for Tony's safety" Natasha simply said. Steve could do nothing more but agree.

Everything was going smoothly, Steve had come to terms with what he had been told. He kept his distance from Tony, not engaging in any unnecessary conversation . Tony even seemed to be doing really well, he was always surrounded by his friends . The three of them had become kind of inseparable actually and it was nice to know Tony had someone looking out for him. Steve often found Tony lurking around hiding in the corridors every now and then during gym class but did nothing more than smile and tell him off for doing it again in the future.

Tony also seemed to have gotten over his infatuation with Steve, which Steve was very happy about but was heart broken inside knowing he cannot , just cannot feel for Howard's boy in that way.

Steve was on a mission one day when it all came crashing down. The peace he had finally after months together found. Just like that , it all went to hell. Natasha and Steve were at a subway station on an undercover mission to track down a mad scientist who threatened to blow the place up if the government did not fund for his crazy experiments. Normally this wasn't the kind of things shield bothered with but the scientist was talking about contacting aliens from a third world and just like that it had become shields problem to deal with.

Natasha and Steve were posed as couples , standing arm in arm , but were actually casing the area for the mad man. They had been given orders to bring him back to base, so they can find out what aliens he had been in contact with and what danger it was going to bring to earth.

"Mr. Roger's! Oh my God, I do not expect to see you here!" Steve turned in time to see pepper along with a grumpy Tony come towards them waving her hands as if she was excited.

"Well, hello to you too" Steve smiled "hope you guys are having a nice weekend" he said as small talk.

"Who's your frie-" Tony started "oh hi Natasha" he said clearly surprised not expecting to see her.

"Hey, what are some cool kids like you doing here in the subway?" she asked casually as her eyes swept around the area behind them and caught onto something.

"ugh. Pepper is making me go to the art exhibit downtown" he said making an irritated face to which Natasha gave a distracted "that's nice , you kids have fun" she said trying to urge them towards the approaching train. The sooner they were out of here the better.

"Where are you guys headed?" Tony asked not budging his face not leaving Steve's so Natasha said "I need to use the ladies room, you guys talk. I'll be right back okay Steve?" she said pulling Steve closer as she gave him a lingering kiss before whispering "target at 12 o clock" and Steve nodded subtly knowing she was going to chase him down. Steve stayed put , as Tony frowned at them both.

"We were just headed out to a friends place" he shrugged , "that's cool. Nice seeing you here" pepper waved at him

"Tony let's go, the train is here" she said as she turned and boarded and turning around only find that Tony hadn't followed her. "Tony! Come on!" she shouted

"just a sec!" he shouted back

"So you and Natasha are together?" Tony asked bluntly, and before Steve could answer Natasha screamed in his ear through the comm link "code black in 3 .. 2.." Steve did not have time to think before reacting , everything happened so fast, the doors on the metro closing as pepper was screaming for wrapping himself around Tony and pulling him to the ground covering as much flesh as possible and the loud boom that shook the entire station as the bomb exploded . The blast was very close to where Tony and Steve were standing , and they were both thrown a large distance colliding with a wall on the far end and falling to the floor. Steve only remembered gripping Tony as tightly as possible , and the intense sudden pain he felt at the back of his head as it collided with the wall and then just blacking out.

He came awake to a blinding headache and a voice that was screaming something "Steve! Wake up please . Please be okay"

"Tony, hey you need to let go of him , he's going to be fine okay? He needs medical and so do you come on , let go honey, he's okay"

"No! No! He doesn't look like he is going to be okay, omg he's bleeding , Natasha he is bleeding everywhere!"

"Tony , come on buddy, focus on what I am saying …." And Steve just blacked out again.

The next time Steve came to , it was much more pleasant. The healing factor in the serum taking care of everything. "hey" Steve turned his head to find Clint perched on a chair beside him.

"Hey, what's the body count?" he rasped as he sat up and Clint handed him a water bottle. He drank greedily and placed the bottle down.

"19 , so far"

"Natasha?"

"interrogating the mad man" he nodded

"Tony?"

"shield medical, he was alert and conscious when we found you" and that's when Steve realized he was on a shield base.

"What about the girl? Pepper? is she okay?"

Clint nodded "the blast shook the train a little, but no one inside it was injured. An agent is driving her home as we speak." Satisfied for now Steve got up and stretched testing his muscles and bones .they were mostly fine, just incredibly sore. He looked down and saw his clothes were completely ruined and singed. Clint pointed to the far corner of the makeshift bed and Steve found his captain America uniform laid out. He thanked Clint gratefully as he stepped out so Steve could change and clean up.

He quickly made his way over to where Natasha was interrogating the man. And stood beside Clint behind the glass watching her break him. It was mesmerizing to watch Natasha work, she had a way with her words that would tear anyone apart .

"Excuse me captain?" Steve turned to see an agent approach him "yes?"

"There is a Tony stark in medical and is refusing treatment. He says he needs to make sure you are okay sir. He seems terrified and hysterical."

"Go, Steve. We will handle this lunatic." Clint said and Steve didn't need to be told twice as he took off in a jog towards medical. He could hear the arguments as he got closer

"I I-I need to see him please, there was …there wa-s so much blood pleas-se"

"Mr. Stark , you are injured, please sit down."

"But …but there was blood everywhere, he was bleeding a lot just tell me please , is he de..dead?" Steve took that as a cue to barge into the room taking in the scene , Tony was sat on the edge of the bed two people looming over him ,one holding an oxygen mask as he tried to coax it on Tony but he wouldn't allow it even though it was clear he was in the middle of a full blown panic attack. Steve wasted no time in sinking to his knees in front of Tony

"Tony? Here , hey! I am fine" he said slowly raising his arms out towards Tony so as to not scare him and it would have been almost comical the way Tony froze if not for the situation . Steve held perfectly still letting Tony process his presence and then Tony was flinging himself at Steve holding on for dear life .

"Steve! Are you okay? There was so much blood and you were not waking up. I tried but Natasha didn't let me near you . And they to-took you away." Steve carefully but firmly pushed Tony back so he sitting on the edge of the bed again as he let tony hold onto his arms " breathe tony, it's okay. I am fine." And Tony was nodding his head jerkily. "can you breathe for me?" Tony looked like he was zoning in and out of reality still processing things. " Look at me Tony, come on just like the other day yeah?" but Tony's breathing was not calming and he was still gripping Steve's arms in a death grip and Steve's heart was breaking as he gathered the boy into his arms lifted him and sat on the bed with him on his lap.

"I got you sweetheart, you just need to take a deep breath. Do it with me , do you feel my heart?" he said gently pushing Tony's head against his chest feeling Tony shake in his arms.

"What are his injuries?" Steve asked the two doctors standing beside them "we don't know yet sir, he wouldn't let us touch him."

"Okay, can you hand over the oxygen mask , a cloth to wipe his face with and probably some scrubs. I'll press the nurse call button once we are ready for you." He asked them and they did as told understanding that Steve was asking for some privacy. Steve picked up the mask and held in front of Tony not wanting to force it on him. "Tony , sweetheart do you think I can put this on you? It will help you breathe better ,I promise" he said rocking back and forth slightly trying to calm him. Tony shied away from it hiding his face into Steve's chest.

"sweetheart , you need some help okay? Just let me help you please " he kissed the top of Tony's head ran a hand against Tony's back up and down. Tony slowly turned revealing his face again , Steve's breath hitched as he saw the tears trickling down his cheeks.

"can I put it on you?" he asked again gently bring the mask closer and when Tony didn't shy away again he held it up over Tony's nose and mouth feeling Tony resist the air flow " you need to relax okay? It's only there to help you. In and out , come on." He coaxed as he finally felt Tony relax against his chest. His breathing was immediately better and his grip around Steve's arms went lax against his body.

"There we go, good job. You did good" he said pulling Tony closer to him. Tony's breaths completely evened out in a few minutes and Steve eased the mask off his face. He carded his fingers through Tony's hair just holding him close. He wet the cloth in the bowl of water they had placed and wiped the grime and soot off Tony's face.

"you were hurt , I saw the blood. How are you alive?" Tony said his voice raspy from the oxygen

"I am fine, don't worry about me. They patched me up okay?"

"Why are you dressed like that?" he hiccupped lightly at the end of that question and Steve let go of Tony to reach for the water but Tony immediately latched onto him again not letting go.

Steve had completely forgotten that he was wearing his uniform, he didn't want to lie anymore. Tony didn't deserve it "I'll answer all your questions once we make sure you are okay." He said carding his fingers through Tony's hair again.

"You are captain America" Tony said instead

"there's the genius" Steve nodded kissing the boys head again. "think you can change into some clean clothes?" he asked picking up the scrubs and showing them to Tony. But tony wasn't listening to him.

"How?"

" we will talk about it later okay? I am going to tell the doctors to come back in, so they can check you over now" he said as he reached over to press the call button deciding that Tony can change after.

"Don't go" he whispered as he pushed closer into Steve's chest holding tight.

"I am going to be right here , not going anywhere okay?" and Tony nodded against his chest as the two doctors came back in and asked Steve let go of Tony so they could check him over.

"No" Tony resisted

"It's okay, I am right here. The sooner you let them do their job the sooner we can be done okay?" Tony slowly let go of Steve and he was gently pulled out of Steve's lap and onto the bed. He let the doctors examine him wincing every now and then when they touched a sore spot. Tony was mostly okay, a lot of bruises , a mild concussion and his left wrist was sprained. But what stood out the most starkly was the two hand shaped bruises on his torso against his pale skin where Steve had held him tightly when they had hit the ground. Steve knew he had to be careful, or his strength could do some serious damage to normal people.

"We can give him a mild sedative if required captain." One of the doctors was saying and that was when he noticed that Tony was stubbornly trying to not let his eyes close even though he clearly looked downright emotionally and physically drained.

"That wont be necessary, thank you." He told them knowing once the doctors were out he could get Tony to rest for a while. "I'll send a nurse with a shot of painkillers and we were told to release him after that in the care of Obadiah stane."

Tony stiffened at the name, clearly not happy and he crawled back towards Steve who opened his arms for him.

"I don't want to go with obie. I'll stay here with you. Did the doctors check you over? there was so much blood, did they see where it was coming from?" he was saying and Steve's shushed him wrapping a hand along Tony's head essentially covering his ears.

"Is he here?"

"He is on his way sir ,he was in California on business when we called him. Another 4 hours maybe"

"Okay I am going to let him sleep for a while, he needs to rest. If obadiah shows up let him know that Tony is okay and that he can take him home"

"Will do sir" and Steve smiled at them gratefully before they turned to go.

Carefully letting go of his hands over Tony's ears he guided Tony down onto the bed so he can sleep until obadiah arrives.

"Did they check you over? Let me see" Tony said pushing away Steve's hands and getting up.

"I am perfectly fine, no more blood okay? Just lay down for a little while. Close your eyes." He said his fingers brushing through his hair but Tony wouldn't have it .

"I am not going with obie." Steve only nodded his head not wanting to start an argument while Tony was this vulnerable.

"you need to rest, how about I step out and you change your clothes huh? Or do you want me to help you?" he tried to change the subject

"what injuries do you have? Let me see how bad it is" he said nervously and Steve realized that all this time all Tony wanted to do was make sure Steve was okay because he still hadn't wrapped his mind over the idea of Steve, his history teacher, was captain America. And the last time he had seen Steve, he had been probably bleeding everywhere and knocked unconscious.

"Okay , If I show you that I am fine will that give you piece of mind? And you can rest for a while after?" Tony nodded vigorously at that accepting it immediately. So Steve got up off the edge of the bed and to get some clothes he knew he had in his gym locker at the base, so he could take off his uniform.

"I'll go change into something else okay? Be right back" Tony panicked for a good 3 seconds before saying "kay. Come back fast though."

"How about you change as well?" he said pointing to the scrubs

"Uh huh" Tony said

Steve smiled and left the room , making a quick detour towards Clint and Natasha. He found them sitting at a table in a conference room. Natasha looked like she wanted to murder someone and her expression softened as she spotted Steve " hey" she called softly " how is he doing? He was a mess when I last saw him" Steve smiled " you can say that , he's pretty shook up. Saw me in my uniform" he said

"I know you did that on purpose" she grinned

"I couldn't do it anymore, he had to know" Steve sighed

"hmm"

"So what do we know ?" he asked

"Not much , turns out he isn't the master behind all this. Just a puppet" they had already suspected this, because this man had no real incentive whatsoever.

"Do we have a name?"

"Nada" Clint said

"Have you eaten?" Clint said pushing a half eaten sandwich toward him

"Uhm, think I'll get my own" Steve smirked

"Suit yourself. Is the kid okay? He was such a wreck Steve. How did he get involved at all?"

"I don't know…co incidence I guess. Just glad he is okay" Steve said " maybe you guys should drop by, he needs a few familiar faces." And they agreed

" we will bring you something to eat. How bad are his injuries? Does he need to stay in medical?" Steve shook his head " minor concussion, some bruises and a sprained wrist. Obadiah should be here in three hours to take him home"

"That's gonna be a fun conversation" Clint snickered

"Don't remind me" Steve said "I'll meet you guys in Tony's room in ten" he said and headed towards the gym . He slipped on some thing comfortable and made his way back over to Tony's room only to run into fury on the way.

"Stane is going to be pissed" he said

"I'll deal with it , sir"

"That child Is the heir to SI. I hope you know what you are getting yourself into." He said before Steve gave a single nod and walked away.

Steve knocked on the door, before opening it. Tony was still sitting at the edge of the bed , but he had changed into the scrubs that were much too large for him. He looked adorable to say the least as he battled with exhaustion his eyes closing every few seconds.

"welcome back Mr. Rogers" he smirked

" I see someone is feeling better" Steve said amused

"so captain America huh? " and Steve simply smiled

"That explains a lot actually" Tony said pulling his legs up and sitting Indian style on the bed as Steve sat down on the chair beside him.

"Like what?" steve asked happy that Tony seemed more coherent now, talking normally.

"The cut on your cheek that disappeared, the occasional absence from school . Thanks for that by the way ,the sub was such a dud! Oh and of course the muscles! " And Tony whistled low as a small blush crept up his face and Steve had to hide a smile at that.

"Well , you aren't a genius for nothing I guess" he said ignoring the last comment Tony had made. Steve could not encourage it and he didn't intend to. But today was hard day for everyone

"so you are completely healed now? Nothing is even bleeding anymore?" Tony said as he practically bounced on the bed from excitement his exhaustion momentarily forgotten.

Steve laughed "well, I wouldn't say completely gone jus-"

"I want to see!" he interrupted and Steve shook his head again in amusement. How did Tony go from being so vulnerable to this normal teenager again so fast.

Steve pulled the shirt he wore over his head in one swift motion and Tony for a second was stunned at the physique and his lips popped open with an audible gasp

"Woahhh" he said drawing out the word and leaned forward as if to touch but he pulled his hand back to himself unsure and Steve was actually very glad for that. He did not want to be reacting inappropriately to Tony's touch at the moment.

"Well, this is the worst of it. It stopped bleeding but it is really sore though" Steve said pointing to a long scar along the side of his torso that had been the source of "blood everywhere" as Tony had put it.

"So cool" he said still in awe

"hey tones! What do want to eat? We have –" Clint and Natasha basically just barged into the room and Clint made an amused face "uhm, are we interrupting something?" he said as he pretended to hesitate at the door. Tony turned a shade pinker which was actually not all that bad considering how pale he was just moments before.

"have you guys never heard of knocking?" Steve said jokingly

"Spies don't knock", Natasha said and everyone watched Tony's expression change from blushing to eyes bulging with excitement " wait, what?" he asked practically on his knees now.

"Well guess the cats out of the bag now, great going tasha" Clint punched her lightly on the arm and settled down on the foot end of Tony's bed and Natasha walked over to the little table that held all the medical equipment.

"We are super spies , or maybe you would know us better as black widow and Hawkeye" and that was it, if Steve had any hope of Tony resting it was all gone now and he groaned when Tony went

"Shut the fuck up, no way!" and Clint grinned from ear to ear happy at Tony's reaction to their superhero alternative.

"Language" Steve said

"Mr. Rogers don't be so hard on the kid" Nat said as she walked over with a syringe that had Tony crawling back towards the end of the bed.

"The nurse told me you refused the shot" she said gently "you must be in a lot of pain"

"Uhm, I am fine thank you" he said

"She's great at giving shots, trust me. She once stabbed me with a knife and I didn't even feel it ." and Tony raised an eyebrow alarmed " yeah , I am telling you ! She's that good!" now Tony looked amused but he still turned to Steve who gave him a confirmatory nod , and he finally nodded to natasha as he lifted an arm for her to inject "Steve you can put your shirt back on, we have seen it all" she said distracting Tony as he turned to look at Steve as he slowly put his shirt on knowing Tony will be watching and the longer he takes , the longer he will be distracted . Then a heard a "ow!" and he pulled the shirt on completely smiling.

"That was not so bad was it?" she said gently thumbing the area she had injected.

"It was okay" he replied.

"So , anyways" Clint started " we got food, do you want salad or cheeseburgers?" and Tony made a face at him as if to say ' are you dumb?'

"okay okay, here cheeseburgers for you, salad for the beef man" he said handing it out to them.

Steve ate quickly and threw the carton away before Tony was even done with half his burger mostly because he was too busy asking questions about their lives and what not which was all very well answered by an evasive natasha. Clint and Steve were just glad that she was doing all the talking.

"okay , so we got to go do some spy work now. We will see you later okay?" they said finally as Tony managed to finish his burger. Tony looked genuinely sad but he couldn't do anything about it.

Once they left Tony turned to him "don't you have important captain America things to do too?" he asked pursing his lips "you can go you know, I ll be fine" he said

"I actually don't have much to do , well there is one thing" he said looking at Tony

"What's that?" he asked

"Getting you to rest" Tony rolled his eyes at him

" I am serious , here come on lay down for a little bit okay? It's been a really long day physically and emotionally, and it's a school night!" Tony laughed out at that still not making a move

"I can't sleep" he admitted

"is it the pain? Do you want me to give you a mild sedative?"

"no!" he said immediately and then more gently he said " if I close my eyes I see the explosion and you unconscious"

"okay, tell you what. I'll stay here the whole time okay? Ill be right here. You just need to close your eyes for a little bit and you will be asleep before you know it."

"kay, I'll try but can you sit here with me on the bed?' he asked , and Steve immediately knew he was just milking it cause Tony's eyes were glinting with excitement

"Tony, just go to sleep."

"please" he pouted

"I am officially seventeen"

" you are still a minor. And might I remind you about a certain blonde named pepper?" Tony puffed his cheeks exhaling the air " pepper and me are just really good friends. We kissed once that's all"

"just this once. Please." He said and Steve glared at him

"I am eight years older than you. Did you know your dad was my best friend?" Steve tried another tactic hoping this would maybe put Tony off. Oh was he wrong .

"Really? You knew my dad?" and Tony was excited all over again. Honestly. It was like dealing with a puppy. So Steve gave in and moved to the bed and Tony shifted to give him space grinning and as soon as Steve settled in Tony latched on to him like a koala and Steve had to wrap his arms around him to keep him from falling.

"Please go to sleep" he said

"I am not a child"

"you are literally a child"

"Don't coddle me"

"Oh ,well okay then mister adult , why don't I leave you alone so you can get some beauty sleep"

"no! Don't go!" and Tony was laying his head on Steve's chest "I am sleeping I promise"

Finally! Steve thought to himself as he wondered what he had gotten himself into,his fingers gently carding through Tony's hair as his breath evened out.


	2. Chapter 2

Au part 2

"Captain, Stane is here. And he does not look happy" Steve nodded taking a deep breath , he released his hold on Tony and carefully slipped out from under him.

"Can you just make sure he waits outside , I would like to have a word with him before he comes in here" the agent nodded and left

Steve brushed Tony's hair back rubbing his ear with a thumb, knowing things were going to get ugly soon. He kissed the boys forehead one last time before leaving to meet Stane.

"I told you this would happen!" he screamed the moment steve walked in. Clint looked like he wanted shoot an arrow through stane and natasha was glaring daggers at him. Fury sat uncomfortably between the two.

"This was a purely coincidental happening, no one knew Tony was going to be there with his friend." Natsasha stated but stane was fuming at Steve .

"Nobody has ever laid hands on that boy, and the moment you come into his life ,there is he is lying in a hospital bed." He said pointing his finger at Steve.

Turning to fury he said " you came to me , told me the best place would be under the watchful eyes of captain America. Did it never occur to you that captain america has a dangerous job?"

"I am truly sorry sir, this was not how any of us had intended for things to happen." Steve said knowing obadiah was right. Steve lives a dangerous life, anyone who was associated with Steve inevitably ended up getting hurt emotionally or physically. It was the job description.

"Damn right you are sorry! I am taking Tony back to boarding school. I don't want to see him associated with anyone and I mean it , from shield. There will be absolutely no contact with him and I don't want him asking questions about his past life , it took a damn hell of a effort to get the trauma of watching his parents die out of his mind. He doesn't need more."

"Stane, you are being irrational." Fury began but was cut off by stane "no, I am being a realist. The job you do is by no means a walk in the park. I will not have my godson prancing around with you lot , only to get a call one day that there has been a tragic accident."

Steve couldn't open his mouth, everything stable was saying was right, there was absolutely no argument there.

" its transparent that all you want Tony is for his brain. The child is a genius but that is what landed his father his death. And I promised Howard that I will protect his boy from it no matter at what cost."

"we don't want Tony for anything, Howard was a big part of shield. And we understand the risk and targets that may very well become associated with Tony because of his father's actions. All we want to do is protect him, just like you." Fury retaliated

"A dang good job you have done so far!" he was met with silence

"I am taking Tony home." Was the last of stanes words before he left the room slamming the door.

"Steve, it was not your fault." Clint said gently as he watched Steve stare out the window

"I just wish I had never known it was Howard's boy. I didn't ask for this, I went into the ice 15 years back and life gave me a second chance with everything. But yet I feel responsible ."

"No matter what happens with Tony, Howard knows you are doing your best."

"That's just it, I am not. I can't help myself around him Clint, I see him and I think this boy is going to be the death of me."

"Maybe stane taking him back is the best for all of us." Steve murmured and Clint patted him on the back .

Steve couldn't sleep that night , he knew stane was right but he also had this inherent need to protect the boy and he felt empty knowing he wouldn't see Tony again.

So it was a shock when he did see Tony again the next day in his class. He didn't look like himself at all. He looked exhausted, his eyes cast down. He didn't look up when Steve started his lecture. His friends were casting worried glances at him every now and then. There was a moment when Steve thought Tony had fallen asleep , but he noticed Tony's fingers clenching and unclenching around his pencil. Steve wrapped up the class early, sent the students to their next with no homework.

Only pepper rhodey and Tony were left behind as the students filtered out, "Tony, come on. You need to tell us what's going on or we cant help you." Rhodey was saying and pepper glanced at Steve as if to say, please help him. And Steve nodded and pepper whispered something in rhodeys ear and they both silently left the class leaving Tony and Steve alone.

"Hey" Steve said and Tony's eyes snapped up eyes locking with Steve's as Steve made his way over to the desk Tony was sitting at.

"Obie says I have to go back to boarding school."

"It will be safer for you" Steve said

" I am not going." Steve sighed and pulled up one of the chair and sat down in front of him

"You know why he is doing this, he's just trying to protect you." Stevsaid gently

" Why does everyone keep talking about protecting me? I don't need to be protected!" he said with a tinge of irritation

"our job, mine Clint and tasha's are dangerous Tony. There is always one innocent person who gets hurt and we don't want that person to be you."

"Too bad, I am already hurt." He puffed out

"Exactly, I cannot watch you get hurt again Tony"

"then let me stay here , you are hurting me by letting me go"

"listen to me Tony, this infatuation you have with me is not real, it's just a phase. You deserve better , you deserve a lot more than this" he said waving at Tony's bruised body.

" you are wrong! And I know you feel it too , you say you don't want to hurt me but that's exactly what you are doing."

"even if that is true, there is nothing I can do about the situation. But I am sorry to say that I agree with Stane that it is better for you."

"there is something you can do, you are captain America!"

"That's not how it works, and you know it" Steve was surprised Tony was now using childish arguments. He was always used to Tony's snippy smart answers.

"you are not my father , you don't get to decide what's good for me and neither is Stane!" Tony was fighting hard to keep himself from crying , Steve could tell from the way his voice hitched between the last sentence. He looked exhausted, and after yesterday's turmoil he should still be in bed recovering. Steve didn't even know what Tony was doing here today. The way stane had stormed out yesterday he would have thought he had already taken Tony back to boarding school.

"No I am not, and that's exactly what I am saying Tony. I don't have a hand in this decision ." the moment Steve said it, you could visibly see the fight in Tony leave. His body sagging against his chair he covered his face with his hands , elbows on his desk as Steve waited , giving him some time.

"tony" Steve sighed not knowing how to make this better. "hey, do you want me to take you home?" he asked rubbing his hand up and down on Tony's back in slow soothing circles.

Tony finally looked up And shook his head "I don't want to deal with obie right now"

"Okay…did you sleep at all last night?"

"did you know my parents were murdered?" he asked softly looking down

"I did"

"obie lied to me all these years, I can't go home. Home is not even home anymore" he said so quietly it tugged at Steve's heart.

Steve considered it for a moment , Tony was in no condition to be in school today. And to be honest Steve himself didn't know why he was here today. So he made a decision letting his hand run through his hair he got up from the chair

"Okay, okay can you sit here for a few moments? I'll be right back , I need to have a word with the principal." Tony gave him a quizzical look not sure whether to trust him or not.

Steve went to Bruce first actually because the one person he could trust with telling him that he was taking Tony home without any judgement was Bruce.

"Steve, is he going to be alright?" is all Bruce asked and Steve nodded "I really hope so. He's young he can cope. He just needs some support from people he trusts that's all."

"okay, take care" Bruce said and Steve smiled at him gratefully before heading over to inform the principal that he won't be in for a day or two after, Perks of working for shield.

He then took a quick detour to the cafeteria , bought a water bottle and a sandwich and headed back up to class. But his heart stopped for a moment when he entered his room and found it empty.

Steve was now panicking, he walked swiftly in and out of the adjacent rooms looking for Tony. Halfway down the corridor he suddenly remembered that he had finished his class early. Looking down at his watch he saw the it was only now time for the next period and Tony usually had gym after Steve's class. He headed towards the gym , fingers literally crossed that he would find Tony sitting on the bench outside as usual. But he wasn't there , entering inside Steve immediately gave a sigh of relief when he saw Tony sitting alone on the stairs watching a basketball game. Waving at the coach at the end of the room , he met him halfway across the side of the court.

"Hey Rogers , here to show off them abs?" he asked smirking.

"My abs are unfortunately not for show today" he said . Steve was often in the gym in his free time. The coach and him had quiet the bond. "I am actually here for Tony stark , I was hoping he could help me out with something. Only if that's okay with you though"

"Absolutely! That kid looks like he's about to pass out though. Not sure what's going on with him. Got him on the sidelines anyway. He's not playing today"

"Thanks! Let's catch a game soon yeah?" he said turning to where Tony sat. Tony apparently hadn't even noticed that Steve was here. The closer Steve got , he realized that Tony was watching rhodey s every move looking somewhat mesmerized.

"I never thought a day would come when I actually saw you inside the gym" Steve said sitting next to him.

"I figured I should at least experience everything once." He said not taking his eyes off of rhodey.

"I have a note here from the principal that says you can go home." Steve said holding up a letter.

"I am not going home."

"I didn't say you have to go home" Steve said as he waited for Tony's reaction

"I don't have anywhere else to go"

"come on" Steve said getting up but Tony only looked at him for a second before turning his attention back to rhodey.

"Okay, you can either sit here and sulk or come spend your last day with me. Turns out you are not the only one who got permission to go home" Steve said flashing a smile at Tony holding up another letter.

Tony was on his feet in seconds a smile finally hinting at the corner of his lips as he followed Steve out of the gym. They walked side by side until they reached the parking lot and Steve unlocked his car motioning for tony to get in. He was just glad he got his car today.

"Where are we going?" he asked as Steve gave him the sandwich and water bottle

"To my place. Eat" he added and Tony's eyes went wide in surprise but he didn't dare ask any questions afraid Steve would change his mind.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked once Tony had managed to finish the last bite of his sandwich.

"Fine" he said looking out the window

"how's the pain? Did you take your meds?"

"it's fine and no" Steve sighed ,it was going to be a long day.

Once inside , Steve led Tony by his elbow over to the couch and gently pushed him into it. Tony went willingly, the one good thing about Steve's furniture were that they were all slightly larger and bigger to fit Steve's physique. So the couch was big enough to engulf both Steve and allow Tony to lay down comfortably.

Steve went in to grab some blankets, and he rummaged through his medical cabinet( also very well stocked, given his superhero status that often warranted a lot of medical emergencies) to grab a small flashlight and prepared a syringe with tramadol knowing Tony was in a lot of pain .

"Here, lay down" and Tony looked disappointed.

" I don't want to lay down" he said stubbornly and refused to take the blankets. So Steve just spread it open and dropped it on his lap as Tony pouted.

"We are going to talk, but before that happens I am going to check you over once more."

"What's there to talk about?"

"Plenty" Steve said as he crouched down in front of Tony and picked up the flashlight. He gently let his hand take a hold of Tony's chin turning his face towards him as he checked his pupil responses. Tony cringed at the light trying to move away "sorry, just hold still for a second" he said checking the other eye. Satisfied, he dropped the flash light and said " can I see your ribs? You had some nasty bruises yesterday." And Tony panicked as he nodded his head no vigorously as he slapped Steve's hands away. Steve wasn't sure what happened. He had already seen them yesterday , infact Tony had asked him to stay while he was being examined.

"What's wrong?" he asked as Tony shifted back on the couch away from Steve and said "nothing." He said frowning as his eyes wandered around the room. Steve reached for Tony, holding onto his upper arm "that reaction said otherwise. What's going on?" Steve asked in his no nonsense tone.

"It doesn't hurt , its fine" he said stubbornly now thumbing Steve's hand on his arm nervously

Something clicked in Steve's mind immediately. Six months ago, Tony had reacted the exact same way and he had admitted that something or rather someone had hurt him. Steve had assumed it was a one time thing. Fear and anger gripped Steve's emotions has he played through the all signs that had been there throughout, when Tony flinched at sudden unexpected contact , the terrible bruise that covered his entire torso which Tony had been adamant about not wanting to see the school nurse. The panic attacks, pepper had said they had been kissing , something about the intimacy had triggered the attack.

"Tony , look at me" Steve said with a firmness that had the hair on Tony's neck standing. He turned slowly as Steve gently took hold of Tony's hand gripping his arm.

"I need you to answer this for me okay? Is someone hurting you?" He asked carefully studying the emotions that flitted across Tony's face.

When he received no answer he tried again " is it obadiah?" he asked because Tony had repeatedly said he didn't want to go home with 'obie' yesterday.

"No, please just drop it Steve" he said looking down at their linked hands.

Steve couldn't drop it, he was already feeling murderous as he picked up his phone and called natasha letting it ring on speaker he put the phone on the coffee table because he knew if he held it in his hand it would probably get crushed into pieces from his anger.

"Who are you calling?" Tony asked alarmed "don't tell obie, ill go home okay? I'll go back to boarding school please"

You could see Tony visibly relax as nat picked up "this better be important Steve, or I swear to-"

"I need you at my place stat" Steve cut her off ,he was practically growling and to be honest it was scaring Tony somewhat

"I'll be there in fifteen" the call dropped.

"show me the injury, please" Steve said turning to Tony but Tony only moved farther away from Steve into the couch. So he took a couple of deep breaths and sat down on the edge of the couch looking at Tony he tried again as gentle as he could manage " Tony, please I need to see. Is it as bad as last time?"

"Its really not, I don't want to make a deal out of this." And then Steve snapped

"You think this is not a big deal? Do you realize that by not telling me you are deliberately letting someone hurt you? Is that want you want?" his voice was rising steadily and Tony's breath hitched stopping Steve mid rant and he quickly moved to hug the boy but Tony pushed him away.

"you are making this really difficult for me, please. Tony please " he whispered "just let me help you"

He wrapped his arms around Tony pulling him close as he felt Tony go rigid but soon relaxed.

"Please, let me see" he said again as he reached for Tony's shirt and pulled it up over his head. At first he didn't see anything just the same bruises from yesterday And then Tony twisted around a little so Steve could see his back. There was a very distinct boot shaped bruise on his lower back . Steve traced it with his finger as he felt Tony shudder.

"Don't be mad at me" Tony whispered dropping his head onto Steve's shoulder. Steve scooted back onto the couch and pulled Tony with him ,so Tony was lying on top of him with one of Steve's arms wrapped around his back and the other in Tony's hair.

"Thank you for showing me" he said kissing Tony's forehead.

"What now?" Tony asked finally relaxed that it was out in the open and that he didn't have to hide it anymore .

"Now we wait for natasha, and while we wait for natasha…" Steve said waiting for Tony to lift his head up.

"I don't want the shot" Tony said immediately eyeing the syringe and Steve laughed whole heartedly as tension lifted off his shoulders knowing that Tony was finally willing to talk.

"don't Laugh" Tony grumbled and lifted himself onto his elbows on steve's chest smacking him once.

Steve placed his hands on either side of Tony's face and pulled him in for a kiss, it was gentle and nothing more than a brush of lips against lips and Tony froze his eyes going wide

"This okay?" he asked as pulling back and Tony's mouth stretched into the widest smile he had seen in a really long time and just as Tony tried to kiss him again Steve held his face away and said " I need to hear it sweetheart, is this okay?"

"Yes! Oh my God yessss" he said as he sat up on the bed straddling Steve and bent down to kiss him properly. Steve could tell that there wasn't much experience there, and that made it all the more sweet.

Steve pulled away, and Tony whined trying to follow his lips . He chuckled and pulled Tony back down against his chest as he ran his hand up and down Tony's back. Tony was blushing furiously and it was so damn adorable ,in spite of what Steve had learned today he couldn't help but smile because here he was on his couch with a shirtless Tony lying on top of him.

"will you take the shot now?" and Tony pouted and Steve kissed the pout off his face

"Mmm you don't play fair" Tony whimpered as Steve bit his lower lip. "never said I did" he said smirking and reached for the syringe.

"If this hurts more than I am already hurti-" Tony started but Steve had sat himself and Tony up and was pulling the waistband of Tony's pant below on his hip and Tony squeaked "what are you doing!"

"hold still, I will be in and out in just a minute" he said as he laughed at Tony's shocked expression .

"such a dirty mind , Mr. Rogers" he said his hands gripping at Steve's shoulders as the needle pierced the skin.

"children" Steve said faking exasperation and rolling his eyes as he rubbed the area he had injected with his thumb. He dragged Tony back into lying down again as he gently carded his fingers through his hair.

"How are you feeling really?" he asked Tony

"My head hurts , and I am soooo tired" Tony grumbled

"I bet you are" he said kissing his head. Tony's eyes were already drooping thanks to the effect of tramadol. Steve was actually hoping Tony could sleep for a while. The haunted look from exhaustion was breaking Steve's heart.

"Why don't you close your eyes, sleep for a bit?"

"Nope, not happening. In case this is a dream , I want to be awake for it" Steve chuckled as he pulled the blanket up over Tony's back covering the bruises and Tony snuggled closer to him.

"That makes no sense whatsoever"

"only geniuses can understand" Steve rolled his eyes. Tony's breathing was slowing down as the medicines took effect . There was soft knock on the door and Tony's eyes shot open again and Steve groaned inwardly as he held on to Tony more firmly "just natasha" Tony said and sighed his voice had dropped a pitch as he battled his eyes to stay awake.

"Yeah it is" Steve said as he yelled for natasha to come in knowing she has a key. Her entrance was accompanied by a smirk followed by an annoyed scowl when she saw the scene in front of her.

"Tell me you didn't do it with a minor , Steve" clearly ignoring Tony's blush.

"I…we …no!" Tony sputtered as he tried to pull away from Steve but he was just held down more firmly by steve as he chuckled "she's just joking , relax okay?" and Tony gave a frustrated sigh and pulled the blanket around his shoulders trying to hide from natasha.

"if you wanted the money Steve you could have just asked me,there was no need to kidnap a billionaire from school" she said taking a water bottle out of the fridge while Tony fake gasped rubbing the sleep out of his eyes

Steve knew what natasha was doing, easing the atmosphere. She knew him well enough to have figured out that something was very wrong just with Steve's tone on the phone and would have been all over it asking questions if not for Tony tucked into Steve's arms.

"actually I wanted the billionaire itself, not the money. So I though hey there he is, let me grab him!"

"That's a cute story , but what are you going to do when stane comes for you?"

By now natasha was watching the two intently, looking for signs of distress and so she caught the reaction even if it was subtle when she mentioned stane coming for Tony.

"Nat" Steve said the joking aside , his tone now serious. "I need you to make sure Tony can sstay" she hadn't figured it out yet, but she would do anything for Steve. "okay , but I thought we agreed it was safer for him to be.." she trailed off noticing Tony's silence through the new conversation and frowned at him. Something was wrong and it had to do with Tony.

"What happened? Are you okay? Did someone do something?" natasha asked looking at Tony calm but the her tone was rising just like Steve's had but Tony didn't answer her just looked at Steve.

"can you show her? Is that okay?" Steve asked him gently "it's okay if you don't want to" he added as he saw Tony's hesitation.

"Uhm….just don't be mad okay?" he told natasha and she was still frowning at him and she shot Steve a quick look before Steve eased the blanket off Tony's back and as Steve had predicted, natasha took it very well. She gave away no indication the anger that was no doubt boiling inside her.

"Stane?" she asked her voice like steel and Tony quickly pulled the blanket back up and Steve's hand wrapped around him again.

"No!" Tony said again but there was slight hesitation before he said it.

"Who did it ?" She asked bluntly her fingers tightening around the water bottle as she realized Tony's hesitation to defend obadiah. When she didn't receive an answer from Tony she turned to Steve but the look in his eyes gave away that he didn't know either.

"Is this all? Turn around" she told Tony her eyebrows scrunching as Tony tightened his arms around Steve like a child clinging to his father.

"That's all" he said his forehead forming a frown as his lips pouted just a little bit

"If you need our help, you are going to have to tell us who did this" she said in a no nonsense kinda way

"Obie has a best friend. Rumlow" Tony muttered but they heard it clearly anyway.

"how does stanes friend have such close access to you?" natasha asked and Steve shuddered st the thought. "they are best friends like, he's home most of the time." Tony shrugged.

"Tony, does obadiah know?" and Tony was silent again his fingers drawing patterns on Steve's arm.

Steve's body went rigid underneath and Tony didn't dare breathe afraid of what Steve's reaction waa going to be. He kept his eye yu16qq8o7u his fingers dancing on steves arm as he saw natasha get up dropping the bottle on the table in his peripheral vision.

"Did stane-" natasha started buy cut herself off running a hand across her face. It was rare that she was ever speechless but she knew Steve hadn't asked this yet and he probably didn't because he didn't want to know the answer.

She sighed sitting down again "Tony , how far did it go? Has it only been physical or something sexual…" she cut her self off again not knowing how to finish that question but Tony was the calm one this time.

"Once" Tony started to say but Steve let go of his hold on tony and got up from under him , he quickly walked out of the room trying to control his anger. Just as he left he heard Tony say "nothing happened, I didn't let anything happen" and Steve didn't hear Natasha's reply as he left.

Obadiah had said no one had ever laid a hand on the boy . He had blatantly lied about it, now Steve was wondering why he had kept the boy away from his past. There had to be an ulterior motive. He took deep breaths as he walked back and forth along the corridor outside his finger worrying at the back of his neck.

"Steve, don't do this to yourself" Natasha said as she closed the door behind her softly unlike Steve who had just slammed it.

"I will kill him" was all Steve could say and natasha was honestly taken aback , Steve, captain America the all sensible righteous one was being torn apart right in front of her.

"There is obviously something bigger going on here. We cant do anything until we figure out what that is" Steve couldn't argue, she was right ,he had just had the same thought but his chest was raging from anger slashing all the rational thoughts.

"I am going to go back to shield, find out what I can. You need to get back in there, he thinks you are mad at him." Steve gave a shuddering sigh and nodded heading back inside and just as he was about to open the door she said "does he need to be in medical? He doesn't look too good"

He nodaded " Its just the exhaustion, he will be fine" nat gave a small nod before heading out. As Steve entered the living room again, he found Tony standing by the window looking outside but not really seeing. He startled as he heard Steve shuffle across the room. He swayed lightly on his feet and grabbed onto the table for support but avoided looking at Steve.

"You need to sleep, come on " Steve said picking up the blanket and the water bottle that was discarded now on the floor. But Tony stood rooted in place "I can go back to school, you don't have to deal with any of this"

" is that what you really want?" Tony shook his head slowly and Steve gave him a small smile "come here" he said and Tony shuffled over still not meeting his eyes and Steve wrapped his arms around the boy tucking his head under his chin.

"I know you are mad , but -" Steve shushed him "I am mad, but not at you sweetheart. But we will talk later okay? You really need to get some rest" he said pulling Tony back down onto the couch careful not to jostle his ribs.

"Cant sleep." He mumbled as he tried to get comfortable under the blanket.

"Do you want to go to the bed?"

"I…" he blushed a tinge red "Kay."

"get your head out of the gutter" Steve said rolling his eyes as he brushed Tony's hair of his forehead but Tony pushed up on his chest onto his elbows as he raised a suggestive eyebrow at Steve.

"fine" he scowled "but I really am not able to sleep. Let's go out ,for coffee!" he said grinning as Steve played with his hair.

"Yes, because that's what a teenager needs when he is dead on his feet from exhaustion and doped up on painkillers" he said chuckling as he got up from the couch Tony in his arms. Tony flailed from the sudden unexpected movement trying to hold onto Steve so he wouldn't fall face first to the floor and gave an undignified shriek.

"put me down!" he giggled as Steve nuzzled his head in Tony's throat, his hair tickling him.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Steve asked still holding onto a squirming Tony with no effort at all.

"I have to be home in an hour! Steeeeve put me down!" he gave up his grip on Steve confident that Steve wouldn't drop him and used his hands instead to push on Steve's head away from tickling him.

"We will watch a short movie" Steve said instead walking with his bundle towards the bedroom. Most likely Tony wouldn't be going home today, but Steve didn't want to make any promises to Tony right now . He was not sure how he would take it in his exhausted state of mind. Natasha would have already have a team of agents working on figuring out what was going on. Steve trusted her with it, and he has to first make sure that Tony is alright first.

Steve dropped him onto the bed , albeit carefully and Tony scowled at him as Steve retreated from his grabby hands. "I ll go get us something to eat okay? Why don't you pick something for us to watch." He said sliding a control for the TV that was mounted on the wall.

"yeah , get coffee" he said pouting with puppy dog eyes.

"Sure, why don't l get you some highly caffeinated energy drink while I am at it" he said walking out towards the kitchen .

"That would be great thanks!" he heard Tony yelling as the TV switched on.

Steve didn't have much food that would be appealing to a teenager. It was mostly healthy food the least of them being a bag of baked chips. So he grabbed that, and made them both a wrap stuffed with whatever veggies Steve could find.

He could hear the TV, thanks to the enhanced hearing from the serum. It definitely sounded like something animated and Steve smirked. Ofcourse Tony was going to make him watch something that he absolutely would have never even thought of.

On his way back , he picked up the discarded blanket and Tony's shirt

"Here" he said tossing the shirt at Tony but he was already tucked under Steve's blanket his head on the foot of the bed and his feet vice versa. Tony just glared at the shirt at it landed by his side and strained to look at what steve had bought them to eat "I am not that hungry" he said eyeing the wraps but reached for the bag of chips.

"Eat, growing boys need food"

"Stop calling me a boy. I am almost eighteen." Steve choked on a laugh at that

"You just turned 17, kid"

He got up pulling the blanket with him as he smashed his lips against Steve's surprised ones pulling away only when he needed the air

"Who's the kid now?" he asked and Steve laughed as Tony played him with simple logic.

"The cartoon on the TV, contradicts your argument" Steve said amused as Tony mock gasped

"Simpsons is not a cartoon for kids. Its basically for adults"

"really?" Steve said his lips tugging in a smile as Tony reached for the wrap and settled by Steve sides trying to wiggle himself in between Steve's arm. The next twenty minutes went by with Tony introducing the characters and giving insight into their traits. But as the next episode started , Tony's eyes were drooping as he fought to stay awake and Steve carefully eased him down so Tony's Head was pillowed on Steve lap and he gently carded his hands through his hair as his breathing evened out. Just as Steve tried to get up so he can go check in with natasha, Tony sighed his eyes fluttering open he wrapped his fingers around the fabric of Steve's shirt "where are you going?" he mumbled his voice thick from exhaustion. Steve was just surprised that Tony was still awake.

"Go back to sleep, I need to talk to someone okay?" Tony frowned tugging on his shirt

"Cant sleep" he said voice raw and now Steve was frowning trying to understand why Tony was being so stubborn about sleeping or how his body was even still functioning. Steve was now ggenuinely concerned for his health as he sat down again feeling Tony's forehead for a fever.

"what's wrong? Are you feeling okay? Do you want me to take you to medical?"

Tony just shook his head jerkily, his eyes bleary. He just mostly looked uncomfortable . Steve contemplated giving him a sedative but decided against it .

"Okay, we will just watch the TV okay?" he said settling back on the bed wrapping his arms around the genius. He felt Tony instantly relax and sigh softly against his chest

"Why cant you sleep Tony?" he asked gently as he scratched his nails along Tony's back soothingly.

"Just cant" he whispered .

"is it the pain?"

"No"

"Nightmares?"

"no"

"Honey, you have to tell me what's wrong or I cant help you" Steve tried again but Tony just scooted closer to Steve.

" I can sleep at home, I have to leave soon anyway. Will I ever get to see you again?" he asked his fingers playing with the collar of Steve's shirt.

"You don't have to go back home today. Natasha will make sure it will be alright, just until we figure things out" Steve said softly but slowly so Tony can really register it in his mind.

"No no no" Steve frowned as Tony pulled away "I have to go" he said sitting up searching the bed for his shirt.

"Tony. Hey stop , look at me." But he didn't stop ,he got off the bed pulling on his shirt.

"Tony" Steve tried again as he followed Tony out the bedroom and watched him scramble around to get bag and shoes.

"I'll see you later, I think?" he said his voice wavering as he headed for the door. He looked torn between wanting to hug Steve and trying to stay away from him.

"hey , come here" Steve said opening his arms slightly as an invitation for Tony to hug him but Tony didn't move so Steve wrapped his arms the genius. Since Steve was almost a head taller Tony's head rested perfectly at the level of Steve's heart.

"I'll drive you home if that's what you really want. But I want you to know that I am not going anywhere okay? If you want to stay that's okay too but if you want to go home, I want to make it perfectly clear that if at any moment you need me, for anything at all I'll come running."

Tony looked up at Steve, their eyes locking as Tony gave a wavering smile "I will see you tomorrow in school then?" Steve shook his head no and Tony looked taken aback, his breaths turning into soft gasps

"hey hey, I will see you in school okay? But not tomorrow, you need to rest sweetheart. That's all I meant . Okay?"

"I feel fine" Tony insisted as he snaked up a hand behind Steve's neck playing with the golden hair.

" You look ready to pass out. I should have just taken you to medical" Steve scoffed and Tony frowned.

"I have had worse" he said grumbled and that made Steve want to hold on to him not let him go . But he knew it was important to let Tony make the decisions. Steve was going to help him, but Tony had to be willing to accept it or things could go very wrong.

"okay, what do you think natasha said to obie?" he asked his shoulders tense as his mind mulled over all the possible reactions obadiah can have the moment he steps foot inside the house so that he can prepare himself.

"I don't know actually. Haven't had a chance to speak to the team yet."

"The team?" he asked his eyebrows scrunching up the way they did in class when Tony was trying to process information, it was cute.

"Hmm" Steve nodded, " I will make sure you get to meet them soon" he tightened his grip as Tony slowly started listed against his chest supporting most of his weight.

"Okay, I think you are done for the day. Let's get you home" he said tugging him upright gently and Tony bucked pulling away "no I'll catch a cab. It's not all that far"

"You are barely standing on your feet" Steve pointed out

"I don't think obie will appreciate you dropping me off" Tony said shrugging his shoulders.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve flagged down a cab in front of his apartment ,and let Tony go tipping the cabbie ahead so he was sure that Tony would indeed get home safe . He was aware he was being overly protective and that Tony was not at all incapable of getting home in a cab. But considering that Tony was almost dead on his feet from exhaustion he didn't want to take any chances. He gave Tony a quick peck on the cheek before closing the door after him and waved the cab off.

Grabbing his jacket and his bike keys Steve shut the door to his apartment, and headed to shield.

"Agent Coulson!" Steve called for Phil as he saw him walk by the bull pen of the operations department where he went looking for Natasha and Clint.

"Agent romanoff and Barton are in the locker room of the gym in the basement." Steve smirked at him folding his hands " what if I wanted to ask you something else?" he asked raising an eyebrow but Phil still wasn't amused ,infact he didn't even look up from the stack of papers he was going through.

"You want me to start an unofficial investigation into Tony stark" he said evenly. Steve was honestly impressed , Steve smiled sheepishly "can I expect the report by tomorrow evening?" Phil sighed and finally looking up " we already started the investigation, you will have it by morning"

Steve grinned like a child who had just been promised to be taken to Disneyland , it was a weird sight on captain America. Thanking him, he headed for the gym hoping to round up the spies.

He found them sitting by the lockers , still in their workout attire. Looked like they had gone a few rounds and Steve was sad he missed it.

"I really hope you didn't let widow beat you again this time."

Natasha scoffed 'let me beat him?"

"yes, I let you." Clint said sticking his tongue out

"Don't be a child. Speaking of children, how's tony?"

Steve groaned at that "he's not a child." He said mildly irritated.

" who knew captain America had it in him" Clint smirked and nat glared at him.

"did he give you any more information?"

"No, he was too exhausted so I didn't push him for information." Natasha sighed looking somewhat annoyed she said "you can't coddle him Steve, he needs to tell us what he knows . Or we will be working blind here. Where is he now?" Steve scorned at that , he wanted to defend himself saying that Tony was truly in no shape to be answering any questions but he knew natasha was right he shouldn't have let his protective instincts take over.

"Its fine , Steve. We will speak to him soon enough. But where is he now?" Clint asked again and Steve realized he had zoned out in his thoughts.

"He went home, he was absolutely against the idea of not going home." Clint and nat scrunched their eyebrows together waiting for an explanation but Steve pursed his lips shrugging his shoulders

"I don't know why." And nat sighed again shaking her head.

"I'll find out, he just needs a little time okay? It's been a long two days for him."

"Okay, that's okay. Phil has a team looking into everything in Tony's life until now."

"yeah, he told me" Steve said crossing his arms and leaning against the lockers.

"I think it's best we don't rush this. If we are going to nail them, then we need all the Intel we can get. " Steve and Clint nodded

"So you haven't contacted stane yet right? I know I said I wanted to make sure it's ok for Tony to stay but .."

"we had the school principal call him and insist that Tony stay here. That he is doing extremely well in school and would like to see how far they can help him. It's not much but it will buy us some time. Atleast enough time to figure out a way to convince stane that we are good for him. "

"I am just thinking, what if rumlow and stane are after SI , that makes sense right? If you think about it, Tony would have been the direct heir to SI after Howard and Maria died. It would explain why stane saved him and why he's been looking after him. Why he is trying to keep him away from us." Clint explained rubbing his chin with his fingers

"That's exactly what me and Steve are thinking actually. Let's wait it out, see how it plays."

Steve stayed back in the gym , a few rounds with a punching bag would do him some good to at least let him take out his anger with stane and his best friend. Three broken punching bags later, Steve left feeling calmer. That night Steve slept with his phone right by his pillow, hoping to not receive any kind of distress call from Tony. It terrified him to think that even after knowing he had let Tony go back there. Sleep came with difficulty, and it was not restful whatsoever.

Unable to do anything that morning, Steve decided to go to school trying to keep his mind occupied until he recieved the report from Phil. He found Bruce first thing at the cafeteria sipping his coffee and looking at papers.

"Hey bruce!" he said smiling at the man as he adjusted his glasses

"Hey! Thought you guys wouldn't be coming in today" he said pleasantly surprised.

"needed some distraction, history seemed the best option" he said grinning unsurely.

"Wait, what do you mean 'you guys?'" Steve asked looking around the cafeteria

"I saw Tony with pepper and rhodey as well today morning." What? Steve didn't know if he should be mad or annoyed or concerned.

"I told him to stay home" Steve said sighing.

"Mm that boy needs distractions too Steve. And it's obvious that history is his as well." He said looking up from his paper and sipping his coffee casually. Steve felt himself blush a little before he cleared his throat suddenly worried that the whole school knew. Or what if Tony had told everyone?

"Relax, I wont tell anyone. Besides I think you are good for him. Keep him grounded , you know?" he said smiling.

"Is it easily that obvious?" he asked

"No, I realized only when I saw you walking him to your car yesterday. And tony doesn't seem like the person to kiss and tell so I think your secret is safe with me." Steve smiled gratefully at him albeit it was a sheepish one. The bell rang and Steve headed to class to find Tony sitting in between pepper and rhodey in the last row. He looked up as I shuffled in clearing my throat to alert the students. He pursed his lips and looked back down opening his book as the others did.

Fifteen minutes into french revolution Tony was listing against rhodey eyes closed his pencil slipping from his hand and falling to the ground. If Steve didn't know the situation, he would have been irritated with the student and probably woken them up in an embarrassing way to make sure that he or she she doesn't fall asleep in class again. But for now Steve pretended that he didn't notice it and completed his class. Tony didn't even stir as the bell rang. Thankfully pepper and rhodey were also aware that something was going on between them but they never mentioned anything out loud so far and just gave Steve a questioning look as if asking if they should wake him up or not. Steve nodded his head no , and went back to sit at his desk as everyone quickly packed their bags and left for gym. Tony was anyway excused from gym for a couple of days so Steve figured there was no point waking him up.

After another thirty minutes Steve finally felt bad for Tony's neck bent awkwardly as he continued to sleep with his head on his desk. He walked over kneeling down by Tony's head and ran his fingers gently through his hair which was messy and seemed out of place for once like Tony had rushed to get to school on time.

"Tony? Wake up sweetheart." He whispered but Tony was dead to the world. So Steve shook him a little and called out a little more loudly . He did not expect Tony to react so violently to be woken up though, because one second Tony is sleeping and next second his eyes are wide open panic marring his facial features as he flailed his arms almost tripping over his own chair. Steve looped an arm around his back catching him in time.

"It's just me Tony." He said quickly as Tony took in his surrounds and relaxed his shoulders. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes before turning to look at Steve. Steve held back his sprained hand carefully before he injured it further.

"You with me?" he asked as he studied his face for signs of distress. Tony nodded trying to contain a yawn as he leaned into Steve's hands and he twisted his neck to get the crick out of it. Steve rubbed his hand along the nape of his neck trying to help.

"If I had known all it took to put you to sleep was my teaching, I would have done it a lot sooner." Steve smirked as Tony snorted.

"You should teach spiritual meditation or something instead of history" he said smiling his voice thick and rough from sleep

"Right, I'll apply for that position as soon as its available. I thought I told you to rest, why are you in school?"

"that's what I was doing before you woke me up" Tony grumbled rolling his eyes

"How are you feeling?"

"tired"

He looked some what better than yesterday though , Steve kissed his temple and sighed getting up from kneeling on the floor. Tony watched him silently as Steve dragged a nearby chair plopped down next to him Watching him wearily.

Tony rolled his eyes at Steve "what?" he asked

" how was everything at home last night?" Tony perked up at that smiling genuinely

" obie got a call yesterday from the principal, did you guys have something to do with that?" he asked chewing on the nails of his finger.

"Did it work?"

" better than you would think, obie even said if I think this school is really the best option for me then I can continue. I don't know what you guys did but wow , thanks!"

Steve frowned , they had only thought it was enough reason to give them sometime time to think of a better reason. Something didn't seems right and he continued frowning and Tony caught on,

"What is it?" he asked now frowning himself.

"I didn't think this would be enough of a reason for stane. Did he say something else?" he asked

"No, nothing regarding that. But he did say the better the education I get the better the chances are that I will become a great CEO." He said his chest puffing out just a little bit in a show of pride.

"hmm" Steve said not really listening to Tony and was snapped out of his thoughts when Tony got up from his chair and walked over to Steve his hands wrapping his arms around his torso.

"Are you not happy that I get to continue in this school?" he asked pouting but at the same time he looked a little afraid of what Steve's answer might be.

"No, no I am very glad. Just…you know what? I am really happy. Come here." He said grinning as he pulled Tony towards him letting him sit on his lap.

"What if someone comes in?" tony whispered looking back at the door and Steve nibbled at the tip of his ear before grinning and whispered in his ear "I locked door when you were sleeping." As Tony shivered at the feeling he turned to straddle Steve on the chair his fingers locking around Steve's neck "and what were you planning to do to me behind the locked door?" he dipped his head down as he trailed wet kissed along Steve's exposed neck.

"I have planned some very important things actually" he put a finger under Tony's chin lifting it up so Tony would look at him before kissing him long and hard. Tony moaned as Steve slid his tongue along his teeth and pulled away holding Tony back at arms length.

"I really thought that…" Tony gasped slightly catching his breath

"hmm?"

"I didn't know kissing can be this good" he said and the innocence went straight to Steve's dick. He growled slowly, gently pushing Tony off his lap and smoothing his clothes. This wasn't the place or time he told himself, besides Tony is still a minor.

Tony whined a little but he held back leaning against a desk his hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Steve pointed back to Tony's chair "sit, we need to talk" he said as he looked at his watch , he had about ten minutes before the bell rang and Tony had to get to physics.

"Kay, but I have to get to physics" he said sitting down his lips still a flush red and inviting. Steve shook his head slightly to clear his head and nodded

" I know."

"What do you need to talk about" he asked cocking his head to the side

"You know what, I need you to tell me as much as possible. I know you don't want to talk about it, but we need to know okay? Or else we cannot help you bud."

"Okay" he sighed "first of all, don't call me bud , that's insulting" and Steve smirked as Tony glared at him.

"Second of all, can we have this conversation after school? I'll tell stane I have to do homework with rhodey and pepper so I can stay late."

"Tony, we cant push this off any further" he sighed getting exasperated. "I know, I will tell you I promise. Wait for me today after school?" he asked getting up from his chair leaning over to kiss Steve again.

"Okay, head to physics. We can drive up to shield after okay?"

"no no no."

"Tony-"

"I meant we can go to your place?" he pouted shifting on his foot looking unsure.

Steve rolled his but agreed anyway. "okay, but we are having this conversation one way or another today. Even if that means I have to give you detention to hold you back a couple of hours."

"Haha, very funny."


	4. Chapter 4

It's been exactly one week since Tony had told him as much as he was willing, one week since he had got the report from Coulson. Things were going fairly well, as far as Steve was concerned it seemed like this was a pretty straight forward situation. Stane and Rumlow are after Tony's money. In Howard's will, it was clearly stated that the company goes to Tony or no one. Which explains why stane chose to stick close to Tony. To be a father figure and why Tony was still alive with minimal incident (minimal being on a scale of hurt to death) But that doesn't forgive them for their actions.

The most important information Steve got, not from Tony but from Coulson's report was that Tony was only 10 months old when the fatal car crash happened. Which means Tony's birth certificate that was floating around was fake. According to Coulson's report Tony should be turning 17 in a few months and not eighteen like tony has been so eager about. But Steve was yet to give Tony that information still unsure where exactly that discrepancy came from. All in all, things were okay. Steve was happy that Tony was staying and Tony was really glad he had found a place he fit in to. No incidents occurred on stane or rumlow's part since the last time and Tony was mostly recovered from all his bruises ,his ribs feeling better and he was even spending extra time with Bruce helping around and talking science together but that didn't really surprise Steve. He was just glad they found each other cause most of the time he never truly understood was either of them were babbling about.

"captain, I will leave the choice of the team to you, it doesn't matter how it gets done as long as it's done." Fury was saying in a meeting at shield. Steve was considering the mission. Shield has been after this guy for a really long time now, finally after five years the man surfaced again and it was their biggest Intel yet.

"I'll need large resources on this one , not just – " Steve was interrupted by an agent who stood meekly by the door afraid of interrupting "captain, there's a Ms. Potts that's been trying to contact you on your phone for a while now" Steve frowned slightly annoyed at being interrupted .

"can you let them know that I will call them back? I need to finish with this first. " he said

"Sorry sir, we did say that but she is insisting that she speak with you." Steve sighed as fury rolled his eyes and motioned for steve to leave. Steve apologized to the group of people sitting around the conference room as he left to take the phone from the agent .

"is everything alright? Did she say why she wanted to talk to me?" Steve asked him now a little concerned considering the fact that pepper did not have his number, how was she contacting him?

"No sir, we don't know. All she said was she wanted to talk to you" he nodded taking the phone from him and looking through the call history. The were about 7 calls from Tony but that was it. And just as Steve was about to ask the agent again if he was sure it was a girl on the line, the phone buzzed again Tony's name flashing on the screen. He picked it up concerned "were you able to find him?" he heard from the line , that was definitely peppers voice.

"Hey pepper, this is Mr. Rogers. Is everything okay? Why are you calling me on Tony's phone?"

"oh thank god!" he heard her exclaim " Rhodey he's on the line!" he heard her say away from the phone

"Mr. Rogers don't be mad okay? But Tony called us an hour back asking us to meet him at a bar. He was already drinking when we got here. I swear we didn't drink much, I don't think Tony drank much either. But he's like reaaaally drunk and he can't go home like this, so we thought.."

"what? Why are you guys in a bar? Why did they let you in?!" he almost shouted Into the phone his concern replaced with disappointment and irritation that not only had Tony been drinking but that he had roped his friends in as well.

"Uhm, I am sorry. We really weren't planning on it , but Tony called us and he seemed really upset about something and we just wanted to make sure that he was okay so we thou-"pepper rambled on nervously her voice edging on panic

"Okay, hey it's okay pepper. Can you put Tony on the phone?" he asked

"Uhm, I don't think so.. he kinda seems out of it." Now Steve was annoyed as to why in the world would Tony drink this much.

"How about you and Rhodey?"

"We are fine! Just had one beer . I swear!" she said quickly

Steve sighed rubbing the weariness that had creeped onto his face with his palm "okay, I am going to come get you guys. I don't want you drinking anymore. Eat something if possible and please stay put until I get there. Do you understand me?"

"yes , not going anywhere."

"Which bar are you at?" he asked as he turned back to an agent asking for some car keys.

"We are at gastro pub on 99th" she said and Steve sighed in relief it was only a quick ten minute drive from shield.

"I'll be there in fifteen"

"okay, I am really sorry for the trouble "

"Don't be sorry, just please be responsible." He said cutting the line.

He asked one of the agents to relay to fury that he would be back in thirty minutes and for them to continue on without him. Taking the keys he headed out towards the bar he was annoyed and irritated with Tony at the moment. He had been busy and really did not expect to be called out of a meeting to come pick him up because he was drinking. He was not even sure how they managed to get the drinks.

He reached there in record time and found pepper and rhodey sitting at a booth but no Tony. Walking over to them and they both sprung to their feet looking at him with all the guilt in the world.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah" rhodey said and Steve nodded.

"Where is he?" he asked his eyes scanning the place and not finding Tony

"he went to the restroom" and Steve nodded again looking the two of them

"How did you manage to buy drinks? Did they not ask for an id?" they both looked at each considering if they should tell him or nnot and rhodey finally conceded

"Tony was already here drinking , when we came no one asked us anything. I think its because Tony tipped them a lot of money" Steve pursed his lips and took a deep breath. He knew this age all too well, he couldn't really blame them for wanting to do these things but yet it irritated him that Tony was making these choices.

"I told you NOT to call him" he heard Tony whine from his right side and he turned his head sharply glaring at him and Tony took a step back from the intensity of the glare. He was wearing a sweatshirt around his waist and was holding a small wad of cash in his hand. He looked flushed and completely inebriated.

"come here, Tony " he said as evenly as possible and Tony shook his head no

"You are mad" he stated

"yeah. I think you got that right. Come here, please." He said once again and Tony shuffled a little closer but still stood a good three feet away. Steve rolled his eyes and turned towards the other two.

"How did you get here?" he asked them

" we took Rhodes car"

"Are you okay to drive back? Or should I have someone drop you both home?"

"we are okay" they said both shooting Tony a sympathetic look

"Okay, head home. I want to see you both a little early in class tomorrow." They nodded quickly shuffling out before saying quick good byes to Tony.

"Let's go , come on" he said to Tony motioning him forward but Tony stood rooted in place playing with the Bill's in his hand. Steve took two large steps towards him and guided him out to the car with a hand on the small of his back. Neither Steve nor Tony said anything as they drove back to shield. Tony's cheeks still flushed and his gait was stiff as Steve walked him in towards the conference room and sat him down in a small office next to their room.

"I want you to stay here till I come back. Can you do that?" Steve said to him and waited for him to respond but all he got was a nod so Steve waved to the agent who had initially called him out of his meeting and beckoned him over.

"Can you please make sure he stays put? And get him something to eat ?" the agent nodded

"thank you , I'll be back in a few." He said leaving without even glancing at Tony towards his meeting.

It took another thirty minutes for them to catch Steve up on everything and round the meeting off. Most of Steve's attention still on Tony. He was given even orders by fury to lead this mission. It would take about five days if everything went to plan. And all Steve could think about is what more trouble tomy can get into in those five days .

Steve's attention was immediately drawn to the room he had made Tony sit in as he exited the meeting . He frowned at the sight of few people gathered around Tony in the room. Two of them Steve recognized immediately. Phil was saying something to another agent and Clint was leaning by Tony s chair and saying something to him. He made his way over to them

"What's going on?" he asked immediately concerned at the look on Tony's face. Je looked extremely uncomfortable and his face was ever more flushed than before. His eyes snapped up as he heard Steve and he pulled the sweatshirt he had around his waist even closer like he was afraid of something.

"I just came back from a mission and found him sitting here staring at the food" Clint said pointing to the plate of untouched food.

" and I was trying to have a conversation with him when I noticed his eyes -"

Steve's eyes snapped up to meet Tony's and Clint was right ,his pupils were blown . Immediately kneeling down I'm front of Tony steve reached out to feel his skin , he was burning up.

"Tony what's going on?" he asked because Tony was still silent and hadn't said anything

"I drank a little . I am sorry. " he said looking down avoiding Steve's gaze and Steve lifted his chin up to study his face as Tony tried to pull back.

"Did you take something?" he asked holding his gaze

"Huh?"

"drugs Tony, what did you take?" he said mildly irritated again but he used his free hand to rub gentle circles on Tony's arm.

" can I go home ?" He asked looking at Clint avoiding Steve's gaze again and trying to pull away from Steve.

"Tony, hey you need to answer Steve buddy. We need to know what you took" Clint chided gently and Tony looked at Steve and then Clint and then at Steve again before he mumbled something that sounded like rumlows name and Steve saw red.

"What did he give you tony?do you know what it was?" Tony shook his head no looking more uncomfortable as all all eyes turned on him.

"Can you get someone to draw some blood? Let's figure out what this is." Clint said to Phil knowing he will take care of things on that end.

"When did he give it to you? Did he force you to take it?" Clint asked still level headed as Steve just stared at Tony's face wondering how he had missed the blown pupils before.

"Party at home, drinks and lots of people" meaning someone had slipped him something .

"Okay, what are you feeling right now? Can you describe it for me?" Clint asked and Tony shied away from Steve's hands again and said " it's hot"

"Okay, is that all?"

Tony looked down avoiding their gaze as Clint reached over to snag the sweatshirt off since he said he was feeling hot. But before Tony could grab at it ,Clint had already pulled it off his lap and Tony's hand shot out to grab at it again. Steve's and clint's gaze immediately zeroed in on the tent bulging at his waist. Steve immediately let go of his hold on Tony's arm and Clint backed up a little looking unsure .

"How long?" Steve asked suddenly realizing that Tony had been wearing the sweatshirt since the bar and his stiff walking. Tony was still avoiding Steve's gaze and Clint got up from the floor leaving the room silently along with the rest of them pulling the door closed softly behind him.

Steve's mind was filled with dread as he reached over to clasp Tony's sweaty palm and locked their fingers together.

"Sweetheart, look at me" he asked gently as Tony finally looked up at him

"What happened?" he asked softly his grip tightening

"There was a SI launch party at home. Lot of people were there and obie occasionally let's me drink. And the next thing I know " he looked down at his pants "I was feeling icky and weird and then rumlow was being handsy so I left as soon as possible. And called rhodey and pepper cause I didn't want to be alone" Steve was glad he had called them but he was more concerned as of why he hadn't called him

"Why didn't you want to call me honey?"

"Didn't want you to see me like this" he said looking away and Steve hooked his finger under Tony's chin pulling it towards himq

"Tony, you can always call me. No matter what the situation. Do you understand?" he nodded but Steve was still not satisfied but right now that was not important.

"How long have you been like this?" he asked again

"About three hours" he said his voice straining and Steve took a sharp inhale of breath as he realized just how uncomfortable Tony must have been all this while.

There was a knock on the door "yeah?" Steve said looking back as Clint waved him over to come outside for a minute.

"Phil spoke to medical, they say this is common form of drug. The fever is probably from the combination of whatever drug with the alcohol. He needs to ride it out. Or you can help him, if you know what I mean." Normally Clint would have made an obscene joke but it spoke volumes how seriously pissed he was if Clint said it all with a straight face. Steve nodded his thanks before heading back into the room locking the door behind him.

"Tony, how much did you drink?" he asked as he kneeled down again in front of him

"three glasses at the most " he said his sweaty hands grasping tightly at the sides of the chair.

"Honey" he waited till Tony looked up his eyes softening at the fear on Tony's face

"I can help you with that, will you let me?" he asked as he ran his fingers through Tony's hair and Tony pulled away eyes wide shaking his head no

"No"

"Sweetheart, please"

"No , not like this" he mumbled

"how about we go to my place huh? It's only a 15 minute drive. Is that okay?" he asked hoping that's what Tony meant

"please Steve not like this" he said again his voice pleading and it tugged at Steve's heart as he realized what Tony was trying to say. Easing his fingers down to his chin, Steve kissed him on his cheek softly

"What are you afraid of honey?" he asked searching his face for any clues but Tony stubbornly shook his head no

"we won't do anything you don't want to do, just enough to help you okay? Please baby , let me help" he tried again but this time Tony physically pushed his hands away

"Can't! not like this. Cant let my first time be like this " he said quietly looking down.

Steve closed his eyes taking a deep breath, trying to relax his clenched jaw muscles. Standing up he reached for the sweatshirt and dropped it back on Tony's lap and Tony moaned at the small friction it created "come with me" he said lending a hand for Tony to grasp.

"to where?" he asked looking up his forehead now covered in a thin layer of sweat.

"To take a cold shower" Steve said urging Tony to take his hand and tony finally did .

"It's cold" he whined quietly testing the water Steve rubbed his hand up and down his back gently waiting , not urging him anymore than he had to.

"That's the point. It will help, I promise. I'll go bring you some change of clothes, I'll be right outside ,just call for me if you need me." He said turning towards the door

"Steve, don't go. Please" Tony said his fingers grasping onto the end of his shirt

"Are you sure?" He nodded and Steve took the step back to him and this time Tony flung his arms around Steve's waist and tucked his head below his chin as Steve wrapped his arms around the boy careful not to brush against his pants.

"Sorry, I am really sorry" he murmured into Steve's shirt clutching at his waist.

"No honey, there's nothing to be sorry for. In fact I am sorry that I didn't realize what was going on sooner."

Tony clutched at him tighter almost clinging , Steve flipped him around so that Tony back was flush against his chest.

"I got you baby, you are okay" he whispered into his ear.

"come on, let's get this over with" he said tugging on Tony's shirt but Tony refused to let him.

"You want to keep your clothes on?" he nodded vigorously his teeth worrying at his lips

"Okay, that's fine" he said pulling them both quickly under the shower instead of easing in so that the sudden shock of cold would hit their bodies. Tony bucked at the feeling clinging tighter to Steve as he whimpered and Steve pulled them both down so Tony was cradled on Steve lap and Steve was sitting against the shower wall ,the water falling over and around them.

"Feels good?" he asked once Tony relaxed

"Yeah" Steve refrained from kissing him , even though he really wanted to. He spoke nonsense softly trying to distract him from everything, kept it up for another ten minutes until he felt Tony relax completely, his eyes falling closed as his chin dropped on Steve's chest.

Careful not to apply pressure Steve ran a hand down along the front of Tony's pants, and sighed still feeling the hardness and Tony whimpered in his sleep. What ever drug was in his system had made him drowsy and maybe that was a good thing for now. He just readjusted his grip on Tony and settled in.

The water was cold, Steve's metabolism mostly keeping him from shivering . But that didn't mean that he didn't feel the cold sinking into his skin. It was dark and he couldn't see past the glass of the cockpit. The pressure weighing him down was stifling but he couldn't go anywhere. The fear gripping at him as he realized what he had just done.

"Steve"

He couldn't even shiver, the cold was sinking him deeper and he couldn't even react to it.

"Steve. Come back to me, hey!"

His eyes snapped opened as he came to a startling realization that he was not trapped under the water, but that he was sitting down under a shower. And the pressure weighing him down was a sleeping Tony he was clutching close to his chest.

"Steve , you with me?" he heard from his left as he turned sluggishly to face Natasha's concerned face. She gave him a small smile before reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder which was more grounding than he realized.

"You good?" she asked and he nodded once taking in a shuddering breath as he tried not to jostle Tony too much.

"You need to get out of here. Is he good?" Steve still hazy in his mind blinked a couple of times before looking down at Tony's face, he seemed completely relaxed now the flush almost gone from his face.

"How long was I out?" he asked nat his movements sluggish as he readjusted his grip on Tony only then realizing the shower had stopped.

"about thirty minutes, here give him to me , you need to get warm." She said stepping into the shower and crouching down reaching for Tony. Steve clutched at him tighter for a second his mind telling him that he needed to protect Tony from the cold and the immense pressure of being underwater.

"Hey come on Steve, don't go back there. Look at me" he felt someone shake him lightly and then turn his face to face them.

"Snap out of it, come on. You need to get out of the cold. Hand him over , go change your clothes and dry off" he felt Tony being tugged away from him and let go and watched as natasha pulled him across the tiled floor and propped him up against her chest his chin falling to his chest.

"I have him okay? Go on Steve, hey you have to snap out of it come on" he heard her say and he got up on shaky legs stepping out of the shower his clothes dripping wet.

"Is he?" he started his breath stuttering still but natasha understood him as she did the same as Steve had done before ghosting her hand down across Tony's pants and she nodded her head "he's fine. Head to the recovery room by the med bay on this floor. Phil has a change of clothes and some blankets there for you."

He nodded "will you take care of him?"

"Go Steve, he's fine"

He sat propped up against the headboard ,feeling somewhat more stable than before his mind only a little hazy but comprehending. It had been a while since he had experienced a flashback this bad.

Pulling the blanket around his waist Steve crossed his arms around his chest and tilted his head back, eyes closed taking deep breaths.

He startled a little when he heard a soft knock on the door , a mop of dark brown unruly hair sticking through, Tony gave him a small unsure smile as he waited for Steve to give him the okay to come in.

"Hey" he said "all better now?" he asked as Tony took small careful steps inside the room towards the bed. He stood by the foot of the bed his fingers drumming softly on the bed frame . Steve smiled at what he was seeing, he was dressed in one of Steve's shirts he often kept in his locker at the gym. It was almost too large on his small frame coming down mid thigh and some standard issue shield pants that were slightly short at his ankles. All in all he looked like a sheepish teenager just woken up from his long long nap.

"Fine now" he mumbled looking away from Steve and around the room.

"Good , that's good" Steve said smiling tilting his head back once again trying to clear his head.

"Tasha says my fever ridden body might just be the perfect body warmer for you right now" he said quietly pursing his lips and Steve smirked at him

"You and natasha are on a nickname basis now?" he asked as he motioned for Tony to come over to him. Tony grinned at him and all but jumped into Steve's arms literally snuggling his way up Steve's chest so he could press his forehead into Steve's neck. Steve pulled the blanket up and over to cover to both of them relishing the heat emanating from Tony's skin.

"hmm its inevitable once you snuggle with black widow with a hard on" he mumbled and Steve chuckled.

"Should I be jealous?" he asked slightly hiking Tony up higher against his chest.

"Pfft, no me and tasha are just two peas in a pod. Friends. Amigos."

"Good to know." Tony nodded tucking his hands between Steve's and his chest. Steve felt his forehead, his skin still worryingly hot to the touch.

" I wish you had told me, about the cold water" he said sniffling a little, probably already catching a cold.

"That's not something for you to worry about" he replied turning to swipe the wet mop of hair falling against his forehead before dropping a kiss. His lips lingered a moment almost sighing at the comforting heat.

"Its okay for you to worry about me but it's not for me to worry about you?" he asked his eyebrows scrunching forming cute worry lines across his forehead. Steve smoothed the lines with his thumb

"I think you had enough to worry about. Besides you weren't exactly in the right frame of mind at the moment" Tony scoffed

"whatever happened to 'you can call me anytime. No matter what the situation' that is applicable both ways obviously" he said slightly in a dramatic fashion trying to imitate Steve's voice.

"That just wasn't the right moment"

"What if natasha hadn't come in at the time she did?" Steve frowned , he hadn't really thought about it . Mostly he was only worried about Tony. To be honest he found rather impressive that after what tony just went through he was still worried about Steve. He didn't know how top describe the feeling , the flashbacks don't just feel like memories but like he was physically reliving it. He shuddered at the thought of having to explain what it feels like to someone else especially Tony-

"Steve don't do that, you are thinking too hard. " he felt warm lips brush at his jaw ,down his neck bringing him back to the present .

"are you okay? Tasha said I was supposed to bring you something warm to eat but I didn't know where anything was and I really wanted to see you first,"

Steve smiled shakily at him , this was definitely one of the worse flashbacks he had experienced his mind still shifting back and forth from the painful memory and the present.

"Steve hey you with me?" Tony asked and Steve found it rather stupid because he should be the one taking care of tony right now and not the other way around.

"Steve, you are scaring the boy" he heard from the door and he was jerked out of his thoughts as natasha and Clint came in carrying trays of food and coffee that was still steaming .

"Sorry, I am fine " he tried reassuring him but Tony didn't look convinced, in fact he was more concerned as he pulled back looking at the other two

"What's happening to him?" he asked a little unsure as Clint chuckled at Steve's expression when tu Tony chose to not believe him instead turning to the two spies.

"its called a flash back , sometimes your mind flashes back to traumatic events that you have been through." Tony made an 'oh' sound taking a second to comprehend and then asked "do you remember everything about that day?" Steve stiffened ever so slightly hoping Tony wouldn't notice and thankfully natasha was quick to tell him "let's hold of on the questions till Steve is feeling a little more like himself okay?" Tony's face immediately took on guilt and Steve brushed his fingers along his hair "it's fine, but for now let's just eat okay honey?" he said pulling them both upright as they handed over the food.

"Is that coffee?"

"That's for steve" natasha said handing it over to him as Tony scowled

"You cant have coffee until the drugs wear off completely" and Tony blushed hard suddenly remembering that he had just been through a rather embarrassing ordeal.

"I did get you some hot chocolate though" natasha winked at him handing over a travel cup to him

"Yesss! You are the best!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Listen, Mr. Rogers. We really didn't mean to be drinking yesterday. It's just that we thought Tony needed us and well it-" Rhodey and Pepper were standing in front of Steve's table pepper clutching at her backpack nervously . There was still fifteen minutes to go for the class to begin. Rhodey and Pepper had shown up early like Steve had asked them to. Tony stood behind them fidgeting with his phone as they tried to give an explanation.

"Okay, I get it. I am going to let it slide because I know what it's like to be your age. But that doesn't mean I agree with your choices" he tried to be chastising, and Tony smirking behind them was not helping Steve keep a straight face in reprimanding them.

"I know , it won't happen-" and now Steve was smirking . Rhodey was so confidently giving false promises and pepper was frantically nodding her head beside him neither one of then aware of Tony's silent laughter behind them.

"are you laughing?" pepper asked frowning and when she caught the look Steve shared with Tony she whipped around and glared at Tony "what's happening?" she demanded and Tony backed up a step pursing his lips and throwing his hands up in the air .

"I know I was angry yesterday when I saw you three at the bar. But I am letting this slide, because and only because I know there was a situation that may excuse it . Just this once." He said the last part glaring at Tony and Tony curtly nodded his head once.

"what situation?" Rhodey asked now concerned and fitting the pieces together ,he stared between Steve and Tony demanding an answer.

Steve nodded towards Tony " I trust that tony has told you about us" and he waited while they confirmed and continued "the rest is for Tony to share, that is if he so wishes to do" they were both giving even more confused looks now but Steve had something more important to ask them right now and he was hoping that Tony would just for once agree with him

"What I need from you both," Tony's head shot up his eyebrows raising but Steve ignored him "is if you guys would let Tony stay with you for a couple of days."

"what stev-" Tony immediately began but Steve cut him off " I wont be here for the next five days. I need you both to please accommodate him. Is that a possibility?" he asked bluntly expecting the shocked ,curious looks on both their faces. He also expected Tony's "what the hell?" look but again Steve just brushed it aside. Last night Tony had stayed at shield along with Steve and stane had not realized over the daze of the party. But Steve couldn't leave on his mission knowing that Tony was going to be staying with stane without Steve being there incase Tony needed him. That thought scared Steve more than anything so he had stayed up all night formulating a plan but this was all he could come up with that he was sure he could convince Tony into sticking to. His other option was holding Tony hostage at shield, and he knew tony would not appreciate it.

"I-yeah , that's fine . But what's going on? Why cant Tony go home?" pepper asked turning to upraise Tony but now Tony was glaring daggers at Steve ready to argue and dent everything Steve was asking of them.

"You guys will have five nights to talk about it." He said and they nodded understanding that it really wasn't Steve's place to tell whatever the hell was going on. They then excused themselves to go to their lockers to retrieve their books before school started .

Tony on the other hand was still rooted in place, still glaring. At this rate, he is going to give himself a headache, Steve thought sighing and rolled his eyes. They had spoken about telling rhodey and pepper about the situation at Tony's home. About stane and rumlow and Tony had admitted that he trusted them both enough to clue them in, just in case. And Steve had hundred percent agreed.

"it's just five days Tony. You kids like having sleepovers right. It will be fun."

"Steve no, what will I tell obie . I cant just disappear from home for five days!" he said his voice raising and Steve smiled at him "you will tell him that you have homework , which I am sure you have. Or I can give you, if you want"

" stop laughing. It's not even funny. What if I don't want to go?" he said lifting his chin up just slightly challenging.

"Tony, please for me. You know I cannot concentrate on my mission knowing I won't be there for you if you need me."

"I was doing just fine by myself before I met you" he said frowning

"That doesn't make me feel any better , come on. What's the harm huh? Besides do you really want me to be losing focus on a dangerous mission?" that did the trick , but now Steve realized he had just made a mistake.

"its going to be dangerous? How dangerous?!" Tony asked his problems momentarily forgotten as he paced in front of Steve

Steve reached out , grabbing his hand and pulling him towards him "hey, it will be fine. I am captain America remember?"

"That doesn't make me feel any better either. Can't they send someone else? Why cant Clint or tasha go?"

"I am sorry honey. I am leading the mission. I have to be there." Steve wanted to promise him that he will be just fine, but he couldn't do that, give false promises. Many times things did go bad, but Tony didn't have to know that.

"can I call you ?" He asked his thumb drawing nervous circles on Steve's forearm.

"No."

"What if you call me?"

"Probably not going to be able to." There was no point in cajoling or consoling tony because Steve knew he was a genius child and giving him straight answers were better than working around them.

"What if -" Tony started again "okay, come on. That's Enough" Steve said guiding Tony out towards the door so he can go grab his books from his locker all the while Tony tried to resist as Steve effortlessly pushed him his shoes gliding along the tiles.

"Kay okay. Geez! What time do you leave?" he asked clutching tightly at Steve's wrists so that he wont lose balance.

"Honey, we discussed everything yesterday."

"That was not a discussion, you didn't want to even tell me where you are going!" Steve flipped him around as they reached the wall beside the door trapping him against it and placed a hand on the door knob just in case someone decided to walk in so Steve would know immediately .

"that's because It's a secret mission" also because he had to sign waivers and agreements with shield.

Tony just rolled his eyes but Steve just wanted to steal one last kiss from him. He was leaving today after lunch, so this may as well be the last time he gets to see Tony before he leaves.

Tipping his chin up , Steve moved in closer, their lips almost touching he whispered "will you be good for me while I am gone?"

"depends" Tony said his breath hitching and Steve pulled back,

"Oh , well no kisses for you then" tony grabbed his collar pulling him back "depends on how good the kiss is" he said before crushing his lips against Steve's.

He was right he didn't Actually get to see Tony again, Natasha had shown up promptly before Steve third class was over not even letting him catch lunch with Bruce.

"he's going to be fine steve" Steve was disturbed from his thoughts as he sat along side Nat and Clint at the front of the quinjet.

"I know…." He said giving a shaky smile to her. Not many people get to see Steve like this, he never lets down the commanding captain America personality slip unless he's with those he completely trusts and there were very few of them. Or to be precise only three of them (nat, Clint and ofcourse thor!)

Speaking of Thor, there was a jolt of thunder that shook the quinjet. None of them were even phased by it, if there were civilians on the jet right now, they would have probably shit their pants.

"My friends!" came the thunderous voice as thor walked in to take the seat beside Steve. He just plopped down and slung a leg over the side turning towards the rest of them , he had no regard for his safety or maybe it was because he could fly.

"Hey thor" Clint said throwing an apple at him fir him to hold up. Clint was testing his new arrows by shooting apples all over the quinjet. Thor held it up high over his head and waved his hand around to create a moving target. It was a funny scene, not a very uncommon one, but funny none the same to watch a couple of superheroes sit around playing.

"What's wrong with the dear captain?" he asked generally but his face was scrutinizing Steve's face.

"Steve is missing his little one" thor promptly dropped the apple at that, a whine coming from Clint as his bow traced the path of the falling apple .

"you are with child?!" he exclaimed bearing all his large white asgardian teeth and Clint and natasha burst out laughing , Clint almost doubling over his seat. Thor looked at then confused while Steve glared at natasha.

"What have I said?"

"What I meant thor, is that Steve is missing his loved one. Who is well little" she said shrugging and pursed her lips.

"Oh I see! Are you courting a petite person?" Clint was still doubled over with laughter

"No thor" Steve said rubbing his forehead with his palm. " I am , well I don't know what to call it yet. But yes, I am courting a person. And what natasha means by little is that HE is a little younger than me" natasha scoffed

"Try eight years younger" she said as her hand shot out to catch Clint who was almost on the floor now.

"oh, is that not illegal on midgard? To be courting a minor?" Steve groaned wondering why thor even knew these midgardian rules.

"Its complicated" he finished.

"Well, whatever the relations, I bid you all the best my shield brother!"

"yeah he really does need all the wishes he can get, Tony stark is not an easy mark to handle. "

"do you mean Anthoy Edward stark?" thor asked

"Yes , the child of Howard stark" He conformed and thor not so subtly leaned towards Natasha and whispered (again not so quietly, not that it mattered because Steve has enhanced hearing) "I thought we were to keep the young man a secret from the captain?"

" The secret didn't last long, Tony was transferred to my school."

"You are his teacher?!" thor exclaimed

"Yes, what's it to you?" Clint asked

"Courting a student is not regarded well in asgard"

It took another forty minutes to catch thor up and Steve was happy to see the thunder crackling across the sky as they mentioned the abuse. Steve was glad that Tony not only had him but also the avengers team to protect him.

I shall break this man's bones! As soon as we have finished with this mission, I am going to RIP his flesh-"

"Okay calm down there ." clint said un buckling as he stood up stretching his legs as the quinjet docked.

The mission was simple, they had Intel of this assassins whereabouts. They were to trap him and bring him back to shield. But everytime Steve thinks something is simple it becomes anything but.

Standing at their designated points, their weapons at ready, Steve's heart lurched when he saw the man they were after. Clad in all black, his hair long and brown eyes that were unmistakably his best friend's.

"Stand down." He ordered through the comms and he ignored the sounds of protest as he slowly stepped forward not even aware he was doing it until he was standing face to face with none other than Bucky.

"Bucky?" he asked and the other man's eyes zeroed in on him like a target locked and his silver arm came swinging towards Steve's ribs and before Steve could even recover from his initial shock of discovering that the man smiled had been after was his best friend who died eleven years back Steve was laying on the ground his arms wrapped around his ribs coughing up blood. He heard the arrow before he saw it as it hit Bucky square in his flesh hand. But Bucky was not even phased as he took a step closer to Steve as if to attack him again.

"Buck Its me ,its steve" he said recovering enough to sit up but still holding his hands to shield himself from any more blows.

"Who the hell is bucky?" he said before rahis arm again but this time Steve was ready and caught the fist mid strike. It was an honest struggle for Steve to get the upper hand in the fight , but he was also trying not hurt Bucky and at the same time defend himself from the blows.

"cap, what the hell is going on?" he heard Clint through the comms and he ducked as he saw thor's hammer come hurtling towards them. The hammer caught Buckys metal arm tearing it at his shoulders and Bucky looked momentarily shook and Steve took the opportunity to tackle err him to the ground pressing his face into the ground and holding him there.

Buckys breathing was erratic as his pupils constricted and something on his face seemed to clear

"Steve?" he asked his breath rasping and his eyes unfocused

"Yeah, it's me buck." Steve's sigh of relief gave the all clear for the rest of the team to walk over dropping their stance.

"What the hell just happened here?" natasha asked clearly not happy .

After a long conversation of backstories , Steve caught them up on who Bucky was to him . The whole time, Bucky seemed to be battling an inner battle within himself like he was fighting an unseen force that was tampering with his head. They had him chained and his hands and feet bound to a solid rebar on the quinjet.

"Bucky, do you remember anything at all? Is someone controlling you, can you give me a name?" Steve asked sitting just out of reach from his flesh arm. They had ripped the metal arm off, just in case and tossed it away from the reach of him.

"No, Steve what the hell?" Steve just shook his head at the others as their patience seemed to wearing thin

"We cant hand him over to shield." Steve said settling into one of the seats rubbing the weariness out of his eyes.

"Steve , what do you expect us to do with him ?" Clint asked tracking Buckys every small movement.

"He will stay with me, until we figure out what happened here." He said with a finality that told the others not to question his motive at the moment.

They had all switched off their connections to shield base, knowing that their every move or conversation would be tracked by shield.

"he's still a threat, we know what he is capable of, how are you going to keep him in your apartment with no incidents?" natasha said as they settled in for their long journey back. It had already been four days since they left New York and Steve was honestly ready to go home.

"I don't know, he seems to be responding well to me and our memories together. I just need to get him to snap out of whatever this is."

"What will we tell fury?"

"we lost him, an and he shot out communication systems." They all nodded And Steve could see the doubt and uncertainty in all their faces. But he knew that they would back him up if needed.

Day five they had touched ground and Steve had managed to get Bucky in his apartment without incident. It wasn't until there was a knock on the door that had Buckys eyes go glazed and focused laser sharp as he headed for the door while Steve was in the kitchen trying to put together something to eat that it all went to hell.

"What the fuc-" it was cut off by a loud scream followed by a whimper Steve immediately recognized . His heart racing as he ran out of the kitchen towards the scream. He froze on the spot as he saw , saw Bucky holding Tony by his neck his shoes a feet off the ground. He was clawing at Buckys fingers wrapped around his throat.

Steve dropped the tomato he was still holding in his hand as he carefully but quickly crossed over to them . He wanted to scream at bucky to let go of Tony and wrap himself around the boy to protect him from this terror his friend has become. But the glazed look in Bucky eyes had Steve handle it in a different way

"Steve" Tony all but whimpered his feet kicking the air helplessly. He knew Bucky was somehow enhanced just like him, so he knew one wrong move on his part and he could snap Tony's neck in a second.

"Bucky, let go of him. Hey Bucky look at me come pn" he said his voice trembling as Tony started wheezing . But Bucky didn't even glance at Steve his focus solely on the struggling boy.

"Bucky, its Steve. You need to look at me . It's me, its stevie. Remember the days you held my hand while ma made hot soup ? You said it was because you didn't want me catch pneumonia from the cold. Bucky please, look at me" he said now desperate and finally , though agonizing slowly he turned and locked eyes with Steve.

"Yeah, that's it buck. Let him go , he's just a kid. It's just s kid." He coaxed and suddenly Buckys eyes lost that glazed look and immediately let go of Tony who Steve saw out of his peripheral vision fall to ground unable to brace himself , still wheezing.

"Good, that's good Bucky. Can I touch you?" he asked as he watched buckys body suddenly trembling like he was going to fall. After a slight nod he carefully gripped at his elbow pulling him closer ,it seemed to ground him more. But Steve's intentions were to keep him away from Tony. And suddenly he remembered Tony and his head snapped towards him.

Tony was staring at them, every breath he took made a rattling sound and Steve could already see the red bruises starting to form around his neck. He looked terrified.

He took a second and made a decision, if he reveals to Bucky that he knew Tony then incase things went south there was chance that Bucky might go after him.

"Hey kid, I think it's better you leave now " he said keeping his voice as steady as possible. His stomach lurched as he caught the expression on Tony's face before he scrambled backwards out the out and ran.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep. Bucky was sitting on the edge of the couch, still not looking entirely sure of himself or his surroundings. It had been seven hours since Tony had come knocking on his door. Steve needed to make sure Tony was alright but he couldn't leave Bucky here in this state. He just really hoped Tony was okay, his stomach was yet to settle from the look on Tony's face. He had looked absolutely terrified and stuck somewhere between wanting to run to Steve for protection and needing to run away from them for fear of his life. All Steve could now do is wonder if stane was right, Tony's life just got a whole lot complicated because of Steve. But even complicated is fine, what was not fine was that tony seemed to be in constant danger because of Steve and Steve was starting to hate himself for it.

"Can I stake a shower?" he heard an unsure voice pull him out of his reverie. He gave a small smile nodding "I'll get you some clean clothes. Towels are on the drying rack." He said getting up to go grab some of his clothes for Bucky.

As he waited anxiously for Bucky to come out of the shower, his phone rang and he jumped at the loudness of it immediately reaching it to silence it, but when he saw it was just natasha calling he answered it

"Steve , are you okay?"

"what?why do you ask?" he asked confused

"there was just a complete shutdown of shield's systems. We were hacked."

"I…what?" he was completely unsure where this conversation was going, Steve had no idea about hacking he was not a techie and his mind was still reeling from the look on Tony's face.

"It was hacked by Tony. So he could get my number." Again,

"What? Why would he do that?" Steve was thoroughly confused ,he was tired his mind numb and natasha sighed on the other end.

"He called to ask me if you were okay. Said he needed to make sure that you weren't hurt or being held captive." Steve dropped the phone , as he raced towards the sink his stomach giving in, he threw up until his throat was raw and probably bleeding from the strain. Steve had expected Tony to be angry with him , or even scared and terrified but he most definitely had not expected Tony to be concerned about Steve.

He heard the key in the lock on his front door and was immediately on his feet to intercept Bucky this time , but he remembered Bucky was still in the shower. He didn't know if he should be worried about that, it had already been forty minutes since he first went in.

"Steve, I swear to God if you hurt that kid there will be red on my ledger again and I wont regret it this time." He heard natasha her voice clear as ever as Clint stood behind her his eyes glaring at him eith an intensity that could slice through apples.

Steve hung his head down in shame unable to voice out loud what had just happened.

"Did someone throw up in here?" Clint asked his nose scrunching up

"Sorry, hold on" Steve said before walking back to the sink to flush it down the drain. When he came back out Natasha's face was much softer , "where is bucky?"

"He's taking a shower" he said sighing as he wiped his hands on a towel before going back in to his closet to change his shirt.

When Steve finally came back out, natasha was sitting on the kitchen table top passing Bucky a water bottle and Clint sat perched atop one of his dining chairs.

"Why don't you tell us what happened?" he asked looking between Steve and Bucky. But Steve hesitated and he knew the assassins caught that as he diverted the question to bucky.

"I am not sure, there was a kid sixteen at most that knocked on the door." Steve winced as Bucky nailed the age spot on. I don't know what happened, one minute I just wanted to open the door and next I was strangling the kid. I just… he…I..am sorry." He struggled to finish by this point clints eyes were wide looking angry but natasha kept her cool.

"I don't know who the kid was" nat met Steve's look and the slight shake of his head.

"why was he here steve?" he asked

"I don't know. Maybe had the wrong address." He answered as positively as possible.

"he knew your name" bucky deadpanned

Steve hadn't realized that Bucky could remember what he had done even if he was not in his right mind. But again Steve couldn't say anything ,shame and guilt of not protecting Tony even after he had called out for him was taking over again.

"who was he steve? Just tell me." He asked his eyes boring into Steve's until Steve was forced to give up the answer. He internally chuckled his emotions awry at the moment, thinking about how Bucky always stared him down from doing rebellious things during pre-serum times.

"we are… well me and him ..I don't know what to call it okay? Just know that I like him more than I should." Steve finished lamely.

"Stevie." Bucky whispered shocked and Steve was not sure if he was shocked that Steve had chosen a sixteen year old or because Bucky had just strangled Steve's boyfriend who was only a sixteen year old kid.

"Why didn't you stop me?! What if I had hurt him, did you not see the look on his face? He was terrified!" he screamed his hands shaking and he saw the other two lean away a little.

"He called out for you, you should have broken my arm off , what were you thinking!"

"Buck, I wanted to. But I know I couldn't have done it, I cant hurt you."

"So you will watch him hurt Tony instead?" natasha deadpanned and Steve almost lost what was left of his stomach contents then and there.

"It wasn't like that, I was afraid Bucky would hurt him more if I tried to do something. I figured if I pretended not to know him he wont have a reason to. Or if in case later-"

"You thought if I knew who he was and things didn't go as planned , I would seek him out and kill him." Bucky finished his face down and arms crossed across his chest. Steve knew Bucky had to be feeling worse about what happened now, and Steve wasn't feeling any better and to be honest he can't seem to worrying what Tony must be thinking right now . It would have seemed like he chose bucky over Jim, when he needed him and still he had called natasha to find out if Steve was okay.

"I know you cant forgive me, but I want you to know that I am very grateful for this." Bucky started and Steve head snapped up at the all too familiar tone of goodbye.

"Buck-"

"no , I am happy for you. You seem to be doing well, I know I cant be trusted and that you will never be comfortable with me around him. But for what it's worth Stevie, he seemed like a nice kid." He said smiling

"He is" Clint cut in

"He needs you more than I do right now. And I need sometime to clear my head. When you are back I wont be hear, but I hope ,I really do hope that one day-"

"NO. You are not leaving. I just got you back. You are not going anywhere. You can stay here in my apartment as long as you want , I wont bring him here, I will move in with shield for the time being. You are not leaving, let me help you Bucky please"

Everyone looked shocked to say the least, but Steve was feeling helpless at the moment and he disnt care that he was practically begging for Bucky to stay, he didn't care that he had just told Bucky he would give up his apartment for him. He didn't care, because he just found his bestfriend again and this time he was not letting him go.

"Steve are you sure?" was all natasha asked before hopping off the counter and Steve nodded "yes, I need aro"-"

"You can stay with us, Clint and I, at the tower." He gave a grateful smile at her.

"Thank you , steve" bucky said quietly

"will you tell me his name?" he asked

Steve shook his head, "maybe some other time?"

Bucky nodded "I really hope he is okay. Again I am really sorry."

Steve smiled , "I think it will be okay, it has to be."

His fingers were trembling as he tried Tony's phone and everytime it went straight to voicemail. Steve couldn't show up at Tony's home, he knew it would only make things worse for Tony at obadiah's front.

It was past midnight, Steve knew he had to wait until the next morning , he sat at the table in the kitchen chewing mindlessly on some cereal. He knew it was too early to be eating anything least off all sugary cereal that apparently Clint liked to eat. As morning came, he decided against his jog and headed straight for the showers hoping to speed things up and just reach school already.

" Steve, slow down. " Natasha said as he gulped his morning coffee in one go

"I need to see him Tasha"

"He's not going anywhere, trust me. Yesterday when he called me, all he cared about was you."

"Yes but that was because he thought I was being held captive" Steve chuckled

"trust me, he knew." She said with some amount of confidence that it did make Steve feel better.

"obadiah was right, I -"

"Don't you dare give up on him" she said pouring her own coffee as she sat down across from Steve

"I think he has enough problems on his own, without me being there to complicate it." He said sighing resignedly

"Steve even you cant be this blind"

"what do you mean?" he asked confused

"She means, that Tony has only ever had one father figure in his life and that has not been a good relationship. He took to tasha so quickly because he doesn't expect her to betray him in anyway because he doesn't know what to expect from women. But when he sees you, he sees someone older than him, and he trusts you . If you give him a reason not to, then he will learn to never trust anyone again." Steve gaped up at Clint as he walked in his shirt wrinkled and his hair ruffled every way.

"Its psychology 101" he said shrugging and .natsha pursed her lips shrugging her shoulders.

"I am not giving up on him, I just don't want to see him get hurt because of me."

"then be there for him." And Steve sighed, knowing that's what he had failed to do. Twice now actually.

He took his bike keys heading out of the tower , school was an extra twenty minute ride but he didn't mind. Once he got to school , he was disappointed that Tony wasn't in his morning class. He was distracted throughout the whole class unable to focus.

Walking over around to gym, he was again disappointed that he didn't see Tony sitting outside either. He went back to his class room for his second class of the day. He was annoyed enough that he didn't get to even see for himself that Tony was okay, now he was just informed that school was going to be closed for the next two days on account of a salary strike.

By two PM steve was frantic , he wanted to find Tony. he knew Tony was at school and knew that he was avoiding him. He had heard from Bruce that Tony did attend his morning class. He caught up rhodey just as he was about to enter biology

"Hey . what's up?" he asked and Steve realized that his friends didn't know of what happened yesterday. He had thought he was going to be getting berated by them.

"Have you seen ?" he asked as a few students passed by them

"Uhm, he's been AWOL most of the day actually. Something about catching up with his homework?"

"But he's at school?" rhodey nodded

"Try the gym showers, its usually a quiet place. Tony likes hanging around there knowing no one will disturb him when he really has to get work done." Steve smiled gratefully at him taking off.

He was actually quiet proud of Tony's hiding spot, no one would in their right mind would go looking for Tony at the gym. But he was now slapping himself internally for not realizing that that's exactly a Tony thing to do.

Once he got to the gym, he walked over praying that the coach was nowhere to be seen or heard for that matter. Thankfully he wasn't, it was a nice day out, so all the students were probably out playing . He rounded the corner at the showers scuffing his shoes a bit on the floor. He didn't want to startle the boy. He spotted Tony immediately , his brown hair was wet, he had towel wrapped around his neck and was wearing a batman tshirt and a pair of faded Jeans.

Tony's eyes went wide for a second as he realized who it was. He shuffled a little letting the books in his hands fall to the floor. He smiled at Steve, gave a small wave with his hand but did nothing more.

Steve didn't know what he had expected , but it was not this ,Tony had been surprising him with his actions all day.

"welcome back" he said rocking backward and forward a little. His eyes were rimmed red, but Steve couldn't tell if it was from the chlorine of the swimming pool or something else.

Steve stood rooted near the entrance, he didn't want Tony to take what happened for granted . He needed to apologize and he needed to know that Tony understands that it won't happen again.

"Are you alright?" Tony asked cocking his head slightly to the left his eyebrows rising ever so slightly.

"Tony, we need to talk about what happened yesterday." He said and Tony's face immediately fell like he actually hadn't been expecting an explanation from steve and that seemed to confuse him even more.

"what's there to talk about? It's a secret mission." He said shrugging his shoulders "I am sorry I came unannounced, I should have waited till you gave me permission."

Steve was flabbergasted to say the least. He walked over sitting by Tony's side, his books creating a divide between them.

"school is closed for the next two days, did you hear?" he asked Tony instead because whatever was going on Tony's head needed a lot more time than a few minutes of attention.

"Yup, I am glad. I really have been slacking off , need to catch up." He said waving at the book in front of him.

"Think you can spare time for me?" he asked unsure still

"Uhm, obie is going to be in Florida for the week" he said pursing his lips

"That's good?" Steve asked carefully , he wanted to ask how his five days were. If everything was alright but somehow he didn't feel like he had the right to anymore.

"Yes! Do you wanna come over? I can show you my lab!" he said suddenly bouncing with excitement.

"Okay, yeah let's do that" he said smiling at him and Tony beamed back

"how about after school today? You can give us a ride home?" he asked eager and Steve was feeling hesitant, afraid that Tony had trusted in him too much and had not yet fully comprehended the situation yesterday.

"can I have a kiss?" he asked once Steve nodded his agreement. Steve leaned back a little before he caught the hurt expression in Tony's eyes. With a small smile he wiped the graphite Marks tony had on his cheek from his pencils, and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.

"We need to talk , until then I think this will suffice" he said pulling away and Tony looked like a kicked puppy as he nodded

"If you want to break up with me, you can just tell me. It's okay, I can take it ." he said

"What?" Steve stared at him in shock

"Natasha said Bucky was the closest person you wished you never lost, and now that he is back.."

"Tony, look at me."

He looked up and immediately Steve pulled him in for a kiss. He kissed him hard, passionate, nothing like they had ever kissed before. The pencil in Tony's hand clattered to the floor and Steve caught Tony's hand wrapping his fingers tight around his small wrist.

Steve pulled away just slightly, their lips barely grazing "I want you to understand, that I am not going anywhere. Do you hear me?" he asked and felt Tony nod against his lips "good" he said before kissing him again. He bit Tony's bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and Tony whimpered beneath him before giving in completely and crawled over his books into Steve's arms.

"I know things happened yesterday. And I know what it looked like and I need you to hear my explanation. But that doesn't me you have to forgive me for it."

"Okay" he shuddered a little as Steve trailed his hand down his neck , his back and finally settled just at the bottom of his spine.

Tony licked his lips where it was bleeding just a tiny bit and gave a shaky smile. His walls he had up when Steve had first entered were slowly dropping.

"You said this mission was dangerous, are you okay?" he asked running his hand down Steve's chest testing to see if Steve reacted and he did wince a little when his fingers pressed against his already healing but probably still bruised ribs from when Bucky had kicked him.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" he asked trying to grab at Steve's shirt at the bottom to pull it up. But steve held his hands down firmly

"We cant do this here okay? But I promise I am fine." He said gently pulling away Tony's hands

"you will show me later? That you are fine?"

"yes. But I need to know , are you okay?" and Tony looked away from Steve avoiding his eyes

"yeah, yeah I am good." He said

"Tony"

"Its fine, I am fine"

"Okay" Steve sighed not wanting to push him and Tony smiled gratefully at him.

"So I'll see you after school then?" Steve asked dropping his hands and getting up straightening his shirt

"Yeah, see you then"

Just as Steve left the locker room, he heard the distinct choking sounds of someone who was struggling to breath.

"Guys, come on let's hit the showers before we are late for AP physics"

Steve froze as he realized the students were coming back inside, he wanted to run back to Tony hold him close tell him that's it's all going to be okay but didn't know what it would look like to the students coming in.


End file.
